Spitalfields Music Festival returns for its 50th anniversary edition in 2026, taking place from 26th June – 8th July in venues throughout East London. The 2026 edition will feature 20 peremieres, including cutting edge contemporary music, classical repertoire and cross-artform collaborations.
Sarah Gee, Chief Executive & Artistic Director of Spitalfields Music, has today announced the full line-up for the 2026 edition of the Spitalfields Music Festival, which will take place from 26 June – 8 July in iconic spaces and venues throughout East London. Tickets are on sale now.
Established in 1976 by conductor Richard Hickox, this year marks the beginning of Spitalfields Music’s 50th anniversary celebrations which will culminate in 2027 with the anniversary of the first Festival. The 2026 festival brings together national and international artists from a range of different disciplines, styles, traditions and artforms as it continues to build upon the organisation’s rich legacy of commissioning and platforming new music from both world-class artists and exciting new voices. This year 20 new commissions and premieres will be presented at the festival.
Sarah Gee, Chief Executive & Artistic Director of Spitalfields Music says: “To kick off our 50th birthday celebrations, we have curated a world-beating selection of different styles of music and performers, from French and Italian baroque masterworks to contemporary classics with influences from Estonia, China, Pakistan and Japan. Every performance tells a different story, highlighting universal truths and human hopes for the next half century, while also considering what has changed since our foundation. As ever, we delight in the new, offering music for curious ears and minds, across the historic East End of London.”
Programme highlights include:
Opening this year’s festival, five artists will contemplate: What does peace look like? Four newly commissioned poems will weave through a programme performed by the City of London Sinfonia featuring music by George Walker, Reena Esmail, Arvo Pärt, and Sibelius with a new commission by Philip Herbert inspired by a quote from UN Secretary António Guterres: “Peace is the missing piece”.
Writer Ali Smith joins forces with the New European Ensemble to present the UK premieres of four new musical works based on her Seasonal Quartet novels – Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, interspersed with readings from the books that inspired them.
Mimi Doulton performs three new commissions by composers Elaine Mitchener, Linda Buckley and Krõõt-Kärt Kaev which reflect on what it means to be European today, ten years on from the referendum that sparked the UK’s decision to depart from the European Union.
Carolyn Sampson stars in a theatrical reimagining of three works from Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre’s Cantates Bibliques placing a contemporary feminist slant on the biblical tales of Adam, Jonah, and Jephthah. Translated by Toria Banks and produced in partnership by Mahogany Opera, Dunedin Consort and HERA.
Broadcaster and writer Gillian Moore CBE is joined by Stephen Colegrave and Dennis Bovell MBE to delve into what made 1976, the year that Spitalfields Music was founded, such a defining year. Their wide ranging panel discussion will span global events, economic crises, the birth of punk and the seismic shifts in classical music.
Standard Issue make their festival debut with a programme of contemporary music from female-identifying music creators, featuring the world premiere of a new piece by Australian composer and ecologist Kate Milligan which blends music and field recordings to explore the hidden world of London’s wildlife along the Islington canal.
Multi-award-winning trombone quartet Slide Action presents a concert that places the trombone in a completely new light featuring world premieres from Rockey Sun Keting, Ben Nobuto, Omri Kochavi, and the winner of the inaugural Henfrey-Spitalfields Prize.
The Carice Singers return to Spitalfields Music Festival with a programme of seminal choral works from the 20th and 21st Century including pieces by Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur and Luigi Dallapiccola alongside the London premieres of four new works by exciting early career artists who have been supported by Spitalfields Music and Cheltenham Music Festival’s Composers Academy.
Fresh from supporting Richard Hawley on his 2025 tour, singer, songwriter and composer Tom Hickox, the son of founder Richard Hickox, returns to Spitalfields Music Festival with a concert featuring New YVC that combines new material with songs and compositions from his previous albums.
Award-winning performer-composers Emily Levy and Matthew Bourne present a powerful reimagining of British folk music, performed by a 5-piece ensemble and inspired by Julia Varley – a pioneering British activist, trade unionist, suffragette, and social reformer.
To close this year’s edition, the festival returns to the Tower of London for a concert in collaboration with the Choir of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London that explores the historic legacy of music dating back to the 16th Century featuring Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli.
Over the past five decades Spitalfields Music has placed music at the heart of East London bringing together artists, audiences and communities in a celebration of the breadth and power of classical music. It has grown in scale and ambition winning five Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, supporting hundreds of artists through an industry leading artist development programme and premiering over 200 pieces of music at their annual festival, including new works by Errollyn Wallen, Judith Weir, Tarik O’Regan, David Lang, Anna Meredith and James MacMillan.
Spitalfields Music Festival 2026 will run at various locations in London’s East End from 26 June – 8 July.
Tickets are now on general on sale.
