Entertainment
Northern Aldborough Festival 2025 key highlights
The programme for Northern Aldborough Festival is not yet finalised with more to come, but here are some early highlights from this years’ offering…
Now in its 31st year, the Northern Aldborough Festival is hosted in the picturesque rural north Yorkshire village of Aldborough near York. A charity, the festival’s mission is to bring high-end live music to a rural location.
Aldborough is small but mighty. A once prosperous Roman capital, the bucolic village is now an unlikely epicentre for classical music. Nestled in quintessential countryside, audiences can step into Aldborough’s ancient 14th century village church and experience intimate concerts normally reserved for the cosmopolitan global stage.
Highlights in 2025 include two musical Dames: the mezzo soprano Dame Sarah Connolly with Dame Imogen Cooper on piano; fresh from their Proms debut, the Fantasia Orchestra; leading jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth, and one of the UK’s most exciting opera companies, Wild Arts, performs Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. This year’s headline speaker is the respected journalist, Matthew Parris.
2025 sees the festival celebrate the artistry and power of the human voice, centred on its annual nationwide hunt for the UK’s best classical singing talent with its New Voices Singing Competition, with a star-studded judging panel.
Northern Aldborough Festival Highlights 2025
- The mezzo soprano Dame Sarah Connolly with Dame Imogen Cooper on piano;
- Fresh from their Proms debut, the Fantasia Orchestra, conducted by Tom Fetherstonhaugh with Tamsin Waley-Cohen on violin;
- Leading jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth and her Trio;
- One of the UK’s most exciting opera companies, Wild Arts, will perform Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love;
- Armonico Consort present The Vespers (Rachmaninov) directed by Christopher Monks;
- Headline guest speaker is the respected journalist, Matthew Parris;
- French horn star, Ben Goldscheider, plays with the Heath Quartet;
- The festival also welcomes the Thanda Gumede Trio, Thanda is an acclaimed eclectic vocalist who has performed at the BBC Proms and Buckingham Palace;
- And the festival’s flagship New Voices Singing Competition returns – its annual nationwide hunt for the UK’s best classical singing talent, with a star-studded judging panel, and a prize fund of £7,000.
Aldborough’s late-night venue ‘The Shed’ also returns for concert goers who want to continue festivities after the evening concerts in a relaxed environment, with a variety of live entertainment and refreshments.
The popular Last Night Outdoor Concert, set in the grounds of Aldborough Manor, features a leading pop act who will perform to circa 1,000 festival-goers. Audiences are invited to bring a picnic and dance the night away, ending with a spectacular orchestrated firework display.
The Northern Aldborough Festival was born in 1994, centred around the picturesque village of Aldborough near York. It was described by the Times as ‘well on its way to being one of the leading fixtures on the classical music calendar.’ Its core aim is to bring exceptional music to new audiences, in intimate rural locations where it would not normally be heard. With musical talent sourced from all over the world, the festival offers audiences a consistently high standard of music.
