Spitalfields Music is back with its Summer Music Festival

Spitalfields Music is back with its Summer Music Festival running from 30 June to 12 July 2023 in historic venues in and around Spitalfields. The festival features 16 premieres, including new works from Michael Finnissy and Rasmus Zwicki in a programme inspired by Hans Christian Anderson, Ian Wilson's musical exploration of his father's battle with Alzheimer's, the English premiere of a piano quintet by James MacMillan, Klaus Lang, Catherine Lamb and , plus the English premiere of Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre's Biblical cantatas, performed by the Dunedin Consort, some 300 years after they were first performed in Paris.

The three masses of William Byrd will be performed by The Odyssean Ensemble at the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, 400 years after Byrd’s death. Set against a backdrop of Byrd’s struggles during the Reformation when many persecuted Catholics were imprisoned at the Tower of London, the music will be juxtaposed with prose and poetry highlighting more recent examples of persecution of and by religious groups, including Afghan women under the Taliban.

Six new works by emerging composers will receive their London premieres performed by harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and violinist Fenella Humphreys as part of the ongoing partnership between Spitalfields Music and Cheltenham Music Festival. Also featured in the festival will be Eleanor Alberga's String Quartet No. 2, and Libby Larsen's opera Try Me Good King.

An evening of protest songs will feature music by Schubert, Strauss, Britten, Boulanger, Wallen and Kit & The Widow performed by Roderick Williams, Nardus Williams, and Allyson Devenish, narrated by poet Rommi Smith.

Full details from the Spitalfields Festival website.