Early music festivals


Early music festivals are a generic term for musical festivals focused on music before Beethoven, or including historically informed performance of later works. The increase in the number of music festivals specializing in early music is a reflection of the early music revival of the 1970s and 1980s. Many larger festivals, such as the Aix-en-Provence Festival, also include early music sections, as do, inevitably, festivals of sacred music, such as the Festival de Música Sacra do Baixo Alentejo, in Portugal. Although most early music festivals are centered on commercial performance, many also include workshops. This article includes an incomplete list of early music festivals, which may overlap with topics such as the list of Bach festivals, list of maritime music festivals, list of opera festivals, and in some cases, list of folk festivals.

List of festivals by country

Note that this list includes festivals that are annual unless otherwise listed. Festivals which were notable, producing radio-broadcasts and recordings, but now defunct, are listed with an indent at the end of each country listing; for example, Gottorfer Barockmusiktage, Germany.
Festival Opera Barocca

Australia

  • Brisbane Baroque - previously Hobart Baroque, ran until 2016
  • MIFOH Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord, founded by Sergio di Pieri in 1971 and run by an entirely voluntary group until the last concert in 2007. A further series of annual concerts running on the same framework was operated by Professor John Griffiths from 2007-2010, a long-time participant in MIFOH

Austria

Bolivia

  • Festival de Chiquitos

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

Croatia

Czech Republic

Denmark

  • Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival. October–November.
  • Copenhagen Baroque Festival, September
  • Baroktoberfest, Oktober

Finland

France

Germany

Hungary

Iceland

  • , Skálholt, summer festival since 1975
  • Reykjavík Early Music Festival, since 2024

Ireland

Israel

  • Bach in Jerusalem Festival

Italy

Major festivals with some early music events:
  • Stresa Festival. Stresa, Lake Maggiore. Some early music events.
  • Ravenna Festival. Some early music events. June/July.
  • Bolzano Festival. Some early music events.
  • * Alessandro Scarlatti Festival, Palermo, Sicily, ran 1999-2002

Latvia

  • Senās mūzikas festivāls, every July in the Rundāle Palace.
  • Baroka mūzikas dienas Rēzeknē, every September 2005 – 2016 in Rezekne city, Latgale region and Riga.

Lithuania

Malta

  • Valletta Baroque Festival

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

  • Encontros de Música Antiga de Loulé - Francisco Rosado, EMAL-FR, every October since 1999, Loulé
  • West Coast Early Music Festival, Oeiras, Lisbon
  • SIMA - Série ibérica de Música Antiga, Castelo Branco
  • Festival Internacional de Música Barroca de Faro, FIMBF, Faro
  • Fora do Lugar - Early Music International Festival, Idanha-a-Nova
  • CásterAntiqua - Ovar Early Music Festival, Ovar

Romania

Russia

Serbia

  • Belgrade Early Music Festival

Slovakia

  • "Dni starej hudby" - Days of early music, Bratislava.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

  • Drottningholm Palace Theatre August.
  • Göteborg International Organ Academy. August.
  • NoMeMus. Nordic festival for Medieval music. During Söderköpings Gästabud. August/September.
  • Palladium Baroque. Malmö. Feb.
  • Stockholm Early Music Festival. The largest international event for historical music in the Nordic countries. First week in June since 2002.
  • Söderköpings Gästabud. Medieval fayre in Söderköping. August/September.
  • Trollhättans TIDIG MUSIK-dagar. Early music days in Trollhättan. May.

Switzerland

United Kingdom

United States