About the Festival
Our Aims, Our Mission
Our Aims
Shakespeare in Music is the inspiration of a handful of musicians and lovers of Shakespeare who set up a charity in 2024 (number 1208674) to give his musical legacy a new focus in an annual Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon. With successful backgrounds in composition and arrangement, performance and conducting, music criticism and arts management, we organised the first of these in May 2025 and now offer the second from Monday 20th to Thursday 23rd April 2026. The range of performers runs from those at the height of their careers to young aspirants, all inspired by what musicians can make of Shakespeare’s exceptional legacy.
This year we shall celebrate the first award for the new Shakespeare song composed specifically for the Festival.
Our Mission
Shakespeare in Music brings a new light to bear on the Bard’s musical legacy. From courtly to bawdy, from Renaissance to Rap, from opera to improvisation, the spirit of Shakespeare lives on in innovative music-making in the classical music tradition and beyond. From songs used in Shakespeare’s plays through more than 400 years of compositions inspired by his works, this vast field provided the impetus and will remain the focus for the annual Shakespeare in Music Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Like the first, the second festival - over 4 days in April 2026 - will bring together inspiring student performers and professional musicians, local musical groups and internationally renowned stars. Every Festival provides a crucible of learning and performance for local, national and international audiences.