PRE-CONCERT TALK
Walton, Lambert and the Sitwells
WILLIAM SITWELL
DIANA SPARKES
DRINKS RECEPTION
for EMF Friends and Vice-Presidents
PARRY: Jerusalem
CAPEL BOND: Trumpet Concerto in D
WARLOCK: The Curlew
LAMBERT: Concerto for Piano and Nine Instruments
WALTON: Façade
ORCHESTRA OF ST PAUL’S
BEN PALMER | conductor
DAVID OWEN NORRIS | piano
DAVID WEBB | tenor
WILLIAM SITWELL | reciter
BRIAN KAY | reciter
MILFORD: Songs of Escape
FINZI: Seven Part-Songs
RAWSTHORNE: Four Seasonal Songs
WOOD: This Quiet Night
WOOD: The Phynodderee
HOLST: Four Part-Songs
THE SYRED CONSORT
BEN PALMER | conductor
BRITTEN: Fanfare for St Edmondsbury
BAX: Fanfare for a Pompous Circumstance
BLISS: Royal Fanfares
BLISS: Farnaby Tower Hill and other Ditties: Suite for Brass
PURCELL: Old One Hundredth
ELGAR: Chanson de Matin
BYRD: Earl of Oxford’s March
ARNOLD: Symphony for Brass
ELGAR: Severn Suite
WELLS CATHEDRAL SCHOOL BRASS DECTET
PRE-CONCERT TALK
“An infinite variety of things”: Elgar’s Second Symphony – disappointment and triumph
ANDREW NEILL
DELIUS: On hearing the first cuckoo
DELIUS: Summer Night on the River
BRITTEN: The Sword in the Stone
BAINTON: An English Idyll
PICKARD: The Burning of the Leaves
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
SULLIVAN: Complete incidental music to Macbeth
ESO
JOHN ANDREWS | conductor
JAMES RUTHERFORD | baritone
LULLAY MI CHILDE
From instrumental dances to Middle English lullabyes, Joglaresa presents a programme of music ranging from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Exploring the Middle English lyric, they perform songs such as Maid in the Moor Lay, Lullay Lullow and Worldes blis ne last no throwe with voices, harps, fidel and percussion.
JOGLARESA
BELINDA SYKES | voice; bagpipes
RUTH FRASER | voice; harp
JEAN KELLY | harp; fidel
TIM GARSIDE | percussion; voice
STANFORD: String Quartet no.3 in D minor
O’NEILL: Piano Quintet
ELGAR: Piano Quintet
BRIDGE QUARTET
MICHAEL DUSSEK | piano
YORK BOWEN: Selection from Preludes in all Twenty-Four Major and Minor Keys, op.102
YORK BOWEN: Piano Sonata no.5 in F minor, op.72
DALE: Piano Sonata in D minor
DANNY DRIVER | piano
PRE-CONCERT TALK
Directions in English music of the 1920s: Walton, Bliss, Bridge and others
FABIAN HUSS
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Festival Te Deum
HOLST: When first we met
HOLST: Sorrow and joy
HOLST: Love on my heart
GARDNER: Sinfonia Piccola
HOLST: Brook Green Suite
HOLST: Nunc Dimittis
HOLST: Two Psalms
GARDNER: O clap your hands
HOWELLS: English Mass
CITY OF LONDON CHOIR
THE HOLST ORCHESTRA
HILARY DAVAN WETTON | conductor
STEPHEN FARR | organ
Jazz improvisations on works by FINZI, DELIUS, WALTON and VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
AVALON TRIO
HOWELLS: Sonata for Violin and Piano no.2 in E-flat major
WORLD PREMIÈRE OF NEW EDITION BY PAUL SPICER
SAINSBURY: Mirage
CARR: Sonatina
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
GURNEY: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E-flat major
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
RUPERT MARSHALL-LUCK | violin
MATTHEW RICKARD | piano
TALLIS: Haer the voice and prayer
TALLIS: A new commandment
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Take, o take those lips away
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Orpheus with his lute
MACFARREN: When daisies pied
WILBYE: As matchless beauty
BYRD: The eagle’s force
TALLIS: Like as the doleful dove
TALLIS: Verily, verily I say unto you
TALLIS: If ye love me
MUNDY: He that hath my commandments
HATTON: Over hill, over dale
MACFARREN: Orpheus with his lute
WEBBE: Who is Sylvia?
FARMER: Fair Phyllis
STEVENS: Crabbed age and youth
DOWLAND: His golden locks
MACFARREN: Fear no more
CAMPION: Never weather-beaten sail
MUNDY: Now let us laud
OXFORD LIEDERTAFEL
PRIVATE CD LAUNCH
ALBION RECORDS
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Five Variants on Dives and Lazarus
DELIUS: Walk to the Paradise Garden
YORK BOWEN: Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
HOLST: Egdon Heath
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Garden of Proserpine
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JOYFUL COMPANY OF SINGERS
DAVID HILL | conductor
JANE IRWIN | soprano
RAPHAEL WALLFISCH | cello
We are delighted to announce that the EMF in 2026 will be held in the fabulous venue of DARTINGTON HALL in Devon, with concerts in the mediaeval Great Hall and talks in the delightful Ship Studio. The full programme is now available and can be viewed on this page. Please do come and join us for the most thrilling, convivial and exhilarating EMF yet!
Booking is now open for the 2026 May Festival for EMF Friends — general booking will open on 2 March. To purchase tickets through our website, please visit our online Box Office.
We are currently working on an overhaul to the EMF website, with improved and more elegant fonts and a fresh colour-scheme, as well as a re-designed layout and new content. We hope that the new site will be up and running by March this year—please check then to see!