The Bath Festival

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The Bath Festival, the city’s biggest and oldest arts festival, is back this May!

The 2025 celebration of books and music runs from Friday 16 May to Sunday 25 May. This year's edition will consist of two festivals in one: the Bath Music Festival and Bath Literature Festival, which will run alongside each other. 

The festival will open with the traditional 'Party in the City' on 16 May 2025, featuring live music from bands, choirs, and solo musicians at dozens of venues, all for free.

Three concerts are being released for pre-Christmas sale, to allow people to reserve their seats early, or to gift tickets to loved ones. Tickets for these concerts will go on general release on Monday 9 December 2024 at 10am, with priority booking for members and patrons from 10am on Friday 6 December 2024. Discover more about each concert below: 

William Byrd: Singing in Secret

The Marian Consort, with director Rory McCleery

Saturday 17 May 2025, 7:30pm, Bath Abbey

Tickets: £45 / £35 / £20 / £10 (10 student/U18 in Band B/C), exc. fees

William Byrd, arguably the greatest of English Renaissance composers, lived and worked as a Catholic in England at a time when to do so meant constantly courting danger. Despite this, Byrd wrote a huge amount of music for the Catholic liturgy and this programme is woven around his unforgettable four-part mass. The Marian Consort is one of today’s most renowned choral ensembles and ideal for this repertoire.

Stile Antico: Palestrina The Prince of Music

Wednesday 21 May 2025, 7:30pm, Bath Abbey

Tickets: £45 / £35 / £20 / £10 (10 student/U18 in Band B/C), exc. fees

Stile Antico, making a welcome return after a stellar performance at The Bath Festival 2024, are one of the world’s leading a cappella ensembles. 

Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s remarkable career was inextricably entwined with the Papacy and the great churches of Rome for which he composed five centuries ago. This programme explores the music he would have sung at the Sistine Chapel, the changes in his style demanded by the Counter-Reformation, his tragic personal life, and his influence on his successors. 

Jeneba Kanneh-Mason: Piano Recital

Friday 23 May 2025, 7:30pm, The Bath Forum

Tickets: £41, £31, £21, £11, (£11 student/U18 in Band B/C)

A member of the extraordinary Kanneh-Mason family, who last performed together at The Bath Festival in 2018, Jeneba's programme is a fantastic combination of gorgeous music ranging from the high baroque of Bach and the classical drive of Beethoven to the impressionistic perfection of Debussy’s Preludes. Her debut solo album will be released in spring 2025, and she performs worldwide both in recital and with major orchestras.

More details will be announced soon, so be sure to check this page and the festival website regularly for updates: https://bathfestivals.org.uk/the-bath-festival/.