Cambridge Music Festival

www.cambridgemusicfestival.co.uk

When Justin Lee took the helm as director of Cambridge Music Festival in 2012, his mission was to bring musicians of the highest calibre to the city and explore the refreshingly unusual. Not only has he excelled in this, but through innovative programming – embracing the eclectic and the extraordinary – he has shaken off the traditional image of ‘classical music’ and sparked the interest of a younger audience.

 

For Justin, who has worked with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Southbank Sinfonia, live music has an unmatchable exhilarating quality. And thanks to CMF’s new model, audiences can savour more live music, with ‘seasons’ of concerts replacing the static two-week November festival.

 

Leaving the concert hall and bringing the festival to a wider audience, there’s an innovative VR Orchestra experience coming to the heart of Cambridge’s shopping district in Spring 2025. Participants will experience what it’s like to perform as part of a symphony orchestra, without leaving the high street.

 

Artists appearing in venues across Cambridge in 2024-25 include: the Philip Glass Ensemble, pianist Boris Giltburg, the BBC Concert Orchestra and Singers with opera stars Sir Simon Keenlyside and Dame Sarah Connolly, the Choir of King’s College with Britten Sinfonia, kora player Jali Bakary Konteh, the Pavel Haas Quartet, US vocal quartet Windborne, the United Strings of Europe, Theatre of Voices, Piano Circus, early music superstar Jordi Savall and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.