Bath International Music Festival has announced a series of five world-class concerts ahead of its 2026 festival, providing music lovers with a taste of what’s to come in the summer
Tickets for five concerts have been released for pre-Christmas sale, to allow people to reserve their seats early, or to give tickets as presents. The full programme for Bath International Music Festival 2026, which runs from Saturday 30 May to Sunday 7 June, will be announced in the new year.
The following concerts are on sale now via Bath Box Office.
Richard Goode plays Beethoven
Saturday 30 May, 7pm, St Mary’s Church, Bathwick
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 30 in E major Op 109
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 31 in A flat major Op 110
Beethoven; 6 Bagatelles from Op 119
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 32 in C minor Op 111
American pianist Richard Goode is a musical legend – his unforgettable performances have extraordinary beauty and emotional depth. He is particularly renowned for his performances of Beethoven – his recording of the complete sonata cycle has legendary status. This programme offers three of the composer’s very greatest works constituting one of music’s great spiritual journeys, one which only a very few pianists are qualified to undertake.
‘Goode’s Wigmore Hall programme was brilliantly calculated both to satisfy the musical appetite and to furnish the mind . . . especially when given with Goode’s radiance, evenness and searching quality of articulation, not to mention his formidable yet contained energy.’ – The Sunday Times
Bach Concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia
Sunday 31 May, 7:30pm, St Mary’s Church, Bathwick
Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 21
Bach: Concerto for Violin and Oboe
Handel: Concerto Grosso in F major, Op. 6 No. 2
Bach: Trio Sonata BWV 529 in C major
Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 4
Bach: Violin Concerto in E major
Bach: Air On a G String from Orchestral Suite No. 3
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
Royal Northern Sinfonia with Maria Włoszczowska, violin/director
What a delight to welcome the Royal Northern Sinfonia back to the Bath festival with a wonderful programme centred on great concertos by JS Bach. Maria Włoszczowska is a supreme performer of this repertoire and her partnership with this world-class chamber orchestra will be something to savour.
‘Wherever the orchestra play, and whoever they share a stage with, every performance is a feast for the heart and mind.’ – The Telegraph
Gesualdo Six: Secret Byrd
Monday 1 June, concerts at 6:30pm and 9:30pm, Bath Abbey
Hear Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices as he intended: sung for worship in strictest secrecy in an extraordinary theatrical concert to celebrate the 400th anniversary of one of England’s finest composers.
During the Reformation, Byrd was a recusant Catholic, writing masses to be sung in secret by worshippers in private homes with smuggled priests, hidden Catholic artifacts and the constant danger of discovery and arrest. Byrd’s courage in expressing his faith through art is a continuing inspiration, when three quarters of the world’s population still suffer from religious intolerance.
The Gesualdo Six collaborate with viol consort Fretwork for the first time in an immersive performance created and directed by Bill Barclay and produced by Concert Theatre Works using imaginative production techniques to bring music to life. Soup and bread are passed to foster a sense of ritual and inclusivity.
The audience roves freely among the costumed artists feeling the original hand-made part-books. Help us celebrate Byrd’s activism by entering a living museum – a concert experience like never before.
Note: this is a promenade performance, with some seats available for those unable to stand.
‘profound, spiritual and beautiful’ – The Financial Times
‘quietly transfixing’ – The New Yorker
‘effortless perfection’ – The Observer
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays the complete piano works of Ravel
Tuesday 2 June, 6pm, St Mary’s Church, Bathwick
Sérénade grotesque
Menuet antique
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Jeux d’eau
Sonatine
Miroirs
Gaspard de la nuit
Menuet sur le nom de Haydn
Valses nobles et sentimentales
À la manière de Chabrier
À la manière de Borodine
Prélude
Le Tombeau de Couperin
An extraordinary musical journey traces the development of this effervescent composer through his charming earlier works to the staggeringly virtuosic Gaspard de la nuit. To perform this complete cycle in one concert is an extraordinary achievement which Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is now touring worldwide.
NB This is a three-hour concert, with two intervals.
‘ . . . he makes you listen to music as if you are discovering it Eureka!-style: yes, that’s what the composer must have meant.’ – The Financial Times
Steven Osborne plays Schubert
Thursday 4 June, 7pm, St Mary’s Bathwick
Liebesbotschaft (arr. Osborne)
Allegretto in C major D346
Am Meer (arr. Osborne)
Piano Sonata in C minor D958
Piano Sonata in Bb D960
Schubert’s extraordinary late piano sonatas were written at the end of his life. These beautiful, timeless masterpieces carry an almost bewildering range of emotions from sunlight to tragedy, from optimism to wistful resignation. Steven Osborne who was Artist in Residence at Bath International Music Festival in 2015, is regarded as one of the finest Schubert pianists of today and this programme promises to be very special indeed.
‘Steven Osborne has long been a Schubertian, and this recording is unmissable… Osborne shows us Schubert grappling with the nuances and complexities of human emotion. It’s music full of life, in other words.’ – BBC Music Magazine
Get your tickets
Book tickets online https://bathboxoffice.org.uk/bath-music-festival-jg6y
Or by phone, 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday: 01225 463362.
Or in person during those hours at Bath Box Office counter, 1a Forum Buildings, St James’ Parade, Bath BA1 1UG.
