Chiltern Arts Festival

Journey with Chiltern Arts in 2025 with classical, jazz, literature, walking and family events in venues across the Chilterns…

In 2025, the Chiltern Arts Festival is packed with events promising something for everyone. This journey-themed festival takes inspiration from words and literature, finding innovative ways to wind them into musical programmes. Three events in this year’s festival draw influence from novels, all of them based on true happenings and depicting journeys of some kind. Poetry features too, including two events with readings in the open air. Jazz, folk and contemporary music all feature too — and for those with children, there are specially-designed family events, as well as free tickets for Under 16s across the festival. Read on for more detail, or visit the festival listings page for tickets…

Internationally-acclaimed musicians violinist Lizzie Ball and accordionist Miloš Milivojević invite you to join them aboard Hobbs of Henley’s flagship vessel The New Orleans for a lunchtime cruise down the Thames to start the festival’s opening two days in Henley on Friday 9^th May; later that day, renowned clarinettist Emma Johnson brings her trio to Henley for an evening of jazz; and the following evening (10^th May), the Piatti Quartet join the Wooburn Singers for an exquisite programme love-inspried music by Finzi, Whitacre and Borodin. In the morning on the Saturday, if you’re looking for something a bit different to do as a family you’re in luck. The Piatti String Quartet bring the ‘new world’ to your doorstep, with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved story Little House on the Prairienarrated with musical interludes from Dvořák’s American Quartet. And in the afternoon, pop down to the Bandstand on Mill Meadows for a free (yes, really!) brass band concert from the outstanding quintet Connaught Brass: why not bring a picnic?

Heading over to the Risboroughs on 11^th May, cellist Clare O’Connell presents two concerts of Sacred Music built around Bach’s cello suites — and connected by a guided poetry walk through the Chiltern Hills; the following day, Echor, an outstanding collection of professional chamber musicians, are joined by Game of Thrones and Endeavour star Anton Lesser to celebrate Ravel’s 150^th anniversary in Princes Risborough. Mid-week (Wednesday 14^th May) saxophonist Huw Wiggin invites friends to join him for a three-concert day charting the course of the sun, beginning at Dawn and ending at Dusk, with music for saxophone and harp, saxophone and piano and saxophone quartet.

In Marlow on 17^th May, another choral treat awaits, when conductor David Hill, organist Stephen Farr and the Chiltern Arts Festival Chorus (which you can join!) celebrate Bach with a programme of Cantatas and solo organ works by the great man himself, plus music by his contemporaries including Buxtehude, who Bach once walked 250 miles to hear!

Lovers of jazz won’t want to miss the highly-anticipated return of the festival’s Concert & Dinner event at The Gatsby in Berkhamsted, where the Will Barnes Quartet present a programme of music and artwork inspired by the exquisite landscape of mid-Wales and the Marches: tickets for The Source of the Severn include a cocktail and a two-course dinner.

Two concerts in this year’s festival also showcase Chiltern Arts’ partnership with The Purcell School for Young Musicians: a concert in Hughenden on 13^th May featuring some of the school’s most talented young pianists includes music by Bach, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin; and on 16^th May in Great Missenden, Purcell School musicians are joined by violinist Lucy Russell and author Harriet Constable to bring to life Harriet’s debut novel The Instrumentalist. Featuring excerpts from The Four Seasons, and Tartini’s masterpiece The Devil’s Trill, this remarkable event will sweep us into a world where music becomes inseparable from life itself.

The Festival’s ongoing partnership with the Musicians’ Company this year presents two special concerts with Young Artists, featuring a pairing of flute and guitar with JKL Duo in Princes Risborough on 12^th May with a programme of reimagined Scottish tunes, and the Londinium Consort performing Renaissance music with a modern twist in Berkhamsted on 15^th May. The same two groups will be presenting special family concerts at libraries across Buckinghamshire on 26^th April and 3^rd May as part of a new partnership with Buckinghamshire Libraries and Chiltern Arts’ new ListenUp & ListenIn initiative: inspiring a new generation of listeners. Find your nearest Library Concert here.

Festival event listings can be found below, and full ticket and event information can be found at chilternarts.com

HENLEY-ON-THAMES: FRIDAY 9^TH & SATURDAY 10^TH MAY

Friday 9th, 12.30pm | Lunchtime Cruise & Concert | Hobbs of Henley

Friday 9th, 7.30pm | Emma Johnson’s Jazz Trio | St Mary’s Church

Saturday 10th, 11am | Family Concert Journey to the New World | Holy Trinity Church

Saturday 10th, 4pm | FREE Brass Band Concert | Henley Bandstand

Saturday 10th, 7.30pm | Wooburn Singers & Piatti String Quartet | St Mary’s Church

ELLESBOROUGH & THE KIMBLES: SUNDAY 11^TH MAY

from 12pm | Two Cello Concerts & Guided Poetry Walk | Clare O’Connell

PRINCES RISBOROUGH, ST MARY’S CHURCH: MONDAY 12^TH MAY

11am | Robert Burns in Music, Flute & Guitar | JKL Duo

7.30pm | Ravel: The Man & his Music | Echor & Anton Lesser

HUGHENDEN PARISH CHURCH: TUESDAY 13^TH MAY

6pm | Piano through the Ages: Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy…

DAWN TO DUSK DAY: HUW WIGGIN & FRIENDS | WEDNESDAY 14^TH MAY

6.30am | Beneath Brightening Sky: Saxophone, Harp & Poetry | Whiteleaf Hill

12pm | Midday Meet: Saxophone & Piano | Bledlow

7.30pm | A Dusk Gathering: Ferio Saxophone Quartet | Monk’s Risborough

BERKHAMSTED: THURSDAY 15^TH MAY

3.30pm | Rennaisance to Today | Londinium Consort | Berkhamsted Baptist Church

7pm | The Source of the Severn: Will Barnes Jazz Quartet
Concert & Dinner | The Gatsby

GREAT MISSENDEN: FRIDAY 16^TH MAY

7.30pm | Vivaldi’s Venice: stories, music & colour | St Peter & St Paul’s Church

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH MARLOW: SATURDAY 17^TH MAY

10am–5pm | Choral Workshop with David Hill, Bach Cantatas

7.30pm | Bach & His Influences, Choir & Organ | David Hill & Stephen Farr

WYCOMBE SWAN: TUESDAY 20^TH MAY

7.30pm | Renewal: The Lark Ascending | United Strings of Europe & Gandini Juggling