Banbury Early Music Festival

The Banbury Early Music Festival is a weekend of old music for enthusiasts and newcomers alike, held in the last full weekend of September since 2024: 26 and 27 September in 2026, and 27 and 28 September in 2025. The 2027 date is to be confirmed. If the pattern holds it will be 25 and 26 September 2027, but the organisers have not said so. The festival's site was thanking its 2026 audience when we read it in November 2026, and its mailing list is the place to hear first. It is run by three local early music specialists, Heidi Fardell, Dylan McCaig and Alison Kinder, with crowdfunding helping to pay for it.

What happens

Six concerts made up the 2026 programme. Blondel, Little Song Party, the Linarol Consort of Viols with Héloïse Bernard, the lutenist Lynda Sayce marking the 400th anniversary of John Dowland's death, The Gonzaga Band and Ensemble Augelletti each gave one, from midday on the Saturday to a 7pm finale on the Sunday. Around them ran workshops: choral, recorder, historical dance, medieval, and one for instruments and voices. Most asked for an application a week ahead.

The easiest way in costs nothing. Instrument and music makers run a market in Cromwell Lodge and Whately Hall on the Horse Fair, from 10am to 5pm on the Saturday and to 4pm on the Sunday, where you can try early instruments. A free performers platform ran on both days in 2026. The Sunday service at St Mary's had a festival choir that people could join by asking the organisers.

It suits anyone who plays or sings this repertoire, and it is a gentle first taste for those who don't. You can dip in for a single concert.

Tickets and prices

The market and the performers platform are free. Concerts and workshops are ticketed, through TicketSource in 2026, and workshops were by application. The festival's own site names no prices, so check them when the next programme is out.

Where it happens and getting there

Everything is a short walk from St Mary's Church on the Horse Fair (OX16 0AA), the main venue, with the church hall, Whately Hall's Swift Suite and, new in 2026, Banbury Town Hall. Venues have shifted between years: Marlborough Road Methodist Church was used in 2025. Banbury station is a short walk across the town centre, and our parking page has the car parks and charges. The festival gives no access details, so ask each venue, or use the contact on the festival's site.