From a concert designed for toddlers to candlelit performances adults can enjoy with a glass of wine, there is something for everyone at the Barnes Music Festival.
Over two action-packed weeks, the Barnes Music Festival presents 36 events across the region. The emphasis this year is on music and literature and each event explores the interplay between the two themes. The festival celebrates Barnes’ musicians and welcomes local amateur and professional musicians and international artists. It is now in its thirteenth year and the aim is to develop a spirit of community through music and invest in future generations of music lovers.
Past and present residents of Barnes are involved including Gyles Brandreth and Alistair McGowan, who both perform shows throughout the fortnight. The festival is designed to appeal to diverse audiences of all ages. A quick glance at their two week programme shows there is something for everyone, from the Toddlers Concert on 27th March to a wide array of events which can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. From Music and Wine to Bridgerton in Barnes, you will be sure to find something in the programme which you like.
The 2025 festival kicked off last Saturday with the Opening Concert at St Mary’s Church in Barnes. The distinguished Academy of St Martin in the Fields led proceedings and they were joined by international tenor Ed Lyon, leading violinist Stephanie Gonley and accomplished horn player Ben Goldscheider. Gonley and Lyon are both very talented but it was Goldscheider whose performance was the most engrossing. He is the festival’s first ever Artist-in-Residence and knows how to captivate his audience with an entrancing musical spell. Goldscheider will adjudicate the Barnes Young Musician of the Year and also give his own concert with pianist Giuseppe Guarrera later in the festival.
The concert began with Stephen Dodgson’s evocative Essay No. 7, followed by Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. Mozart’s sparkling Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major featured stunning interplay between soloist and orchestra. The concert concluded with Gustav Holst’s beloved St Paul’s Suite, a work filled with energy which captures the spirit of community at the heart of the Barnes Music Festival. Dodgson and Holst both had strong links to Barnes, and Dodgson in particular was a well-recognised figure on his bike before his death in 2013.
The Barnes Music Festival takes place from 15th – 30th March, visit www.barnesmusicfestival.com for more info on events and festival activities. Many of the events are already sold out, so if you cannot secure tickets this year then save the dates for next year’s festival from 7th to 22nd March 2025.