Winchester Chamber Music Festival Festival 2026

International performers present live classical music in its most intimate form

Candide

A vibrant and eagerly anticipated event on Hampshire’s cultural calendar, Winchester Chamber Music Festival is brought to you by the renowned cellist, Kate Gould as Artistic Director, alongside her international chamber music colleagues. Since its foundation in 2007 the Festival has grown and become more ambitious in its programming whilst staying true to bringing top quality chamber music to as wide an audience as possible.

Over the Bank Holiday weekend of May 1 – 4 come and hear an exceptional line-up of musicians who will be travelling from far and wide to present another wonderful Festival of classical concerts and events in the heart of Winchester.
For 2026, I have shone the spotlight on the European masters with an abundance of well-known works by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvořák and Ravel. These dominate the core concerts at St Paul’s Church on Friday, Sunday and Monday as well as two special themes weaving through the whole Festival: how composers have described the weather through their music and a celebration of exquisite works by British composer Benjamin Britten, who died fifty years ago this year.

To perform it all, we welcome back many extraordinary guests, including American soprano Katharine Dain, cellist Alice Neary and the vibrant young quintet, Lumas Winds. Popular Welsh pianist, Jâms Coleman, will make his Festival debut and I am excited that two ex-members of the wonderful Doric String Quartet will be featured – Jonathan Stone and Hélène Clément. We kick off on Friday morning when pupils of Westgate Lower School joyfully share the songs created in our school workshops. Meanwhile, Lumas Winds head to The Arc to give an informal concert for our partner charity, Winchester Go LD.

On Saturday, adults and children alike will have fun at our weather-themed Family Concert in the Nutshell. How did the Italians depict those explosive summer storms…?! Next up on Saturday is a Masterclass on Ravel’s celebrated String Quartet: a rare chance to hear Hélène Clément share her experience with our 2026 Emerging Quartet-in-Residence, the award-winning Karelia Quartet. Throughout the run-up to the Festival, the Quartet will have presented their own concerts to local schools and received daily coaching from our visiting professionals. They will then join the pros for the the big Festival Gala at Theatre Royal Winchester: Katharine Dain’s arias from Mozart and Handel operas are not to be missed and we treat you to the treasured Octet by Schubert in the second half.

Sunday’s more relaxed double-bill of short concerts presents our first Young Musicians Platform for talented under-18s, followed by ‘Theatre Night’, featuring music and songs with links to stage and film by composers such as Gershwin, Korngold and Bernstein. Earlier, the Britten v Tippett talk given by James Lea, will explore Tippett’s 2nd String Quartet before its performance and compare his composing style with his revered contemporary.

All in all, it’s sure to be another wonderful Festival, which wouldn’t be possible without you, the audience, and all our incredible sponsors, partners, Friends, Associates and Patrons, trustees and volunteers.

With thanks and best wishes,

Kate Gould