Stamford International Music Festival
A joyful and moving celebration of chamber music returns to Stamford, as Freya Goldmark’s Stamford International Music Festival brings together outstanding musicians for a richly expressive programme spanning centuries of sound
If you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, this month’s SIMFestival programme of classical music in Stamford is for you. Returning each May, the Stamford International Music Festival offers something rather special, a few days set gently apart from everyday life, inviting audiences to gather, listen closely and experience chamber music in its most immediate and expressive form.
Founded by Uppingham born violinist Freya Goldmark when she was just 19, the festival has grown into one of the region’s most distinctive cultural events. This year’s theme, music to laugh and cry to, shapes a programme that moves fluidly between lightness and depth, humour and intensity.
Across a carefully curated series of concerts, audiences will encounter works that speak directly to human experience, from joy and tenderness to grief and exhilaration. As Freya puts it, “at the heart of all these works is a shared response to human character and emotion… for me, this remains remarkably unchanged across centuries.”
The repertoire brings together some of the most beloved names in classical music, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, alongside more recent voices such as Steve Reich, György Ligeti, Dobrinka Tabakova and Jörg Widmann. Integral to SIMFestival is its sense of collaboration, and the 2026 festival is no exception.
Alongside Freya herself, audiences will hear violinists Alessandro Ruisi, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award winner and founder of the acclaimed Ruisi Quartet, and Charlotte Saluste Bridoux, a Young Classical Artists Trust prize winner and Classic FM Rising Star.
They are joined by versatile string players including Emma Purslow, known for her work with the Alkyona String Quartet, and Welsh violist Edgar Francis, whose career has flourished since winning first prize at the Cecil Aronowitz Competition. Fellow violist Ting Ru Lai brings a rich international perspective, having performed widely across Europe and collaborating with leading artists on the festival circuit.
The cello section is equally distinguished, featuring Scottish cellist Hugh Mackay, recipient of the prestigious Suggia Gift, alongside Latvian musician Peteris Sokolovskis and Irish cellist Brian O’Kane, a prize winner at the Windsor International String Competition who has appeared at Wigmore Hall and with major orchestras. Completing the ensemble are pianists Joseph Havlat, a noted interpreter of contemporary repertoire, and Jâms Coleman, whose performances span major festivals from Aldeburgh to the BBC Proms.
Among this year’s highlights is the welcome appearance of Freya’s own ensemble, the Ligeti Quartet, performing in Stamford for the first time. Renowned for their commitment to new music and bold programming, the quartet embodies the adventurous spirit that defines the festival. As Freya notes, “chamber music thrives on long musical friendships as well as fresh collaborations, and this year’s programme reflects both.”
Freya’s own career has been defined by that same sense of curiosity and energy. Named one of Classic FM’s Rising Stars for 2025, she continues to build a reputation for expressive performance and imaginative programming, yet Stamford remains at the heart of her work. Its historic venues and engaged audiences provide what she describes as ‘the perfect place for this kind of shared musical experience.’
SIMFestival 2026
Thursday 21st May
Opening Concert: Mendelssohn
Double Concerto in D minor
The festival opens with a programme that establishes the emotional landscape of the weekend, beginning with Beethoven’s String Trio in D major Op. 9 No. 2, a work of youthful energy and elegance from his early Vienna years, followed by Korngold’s Suite Op. 23 in which the Groteske and Lied contrast biting wit with lush lyricism, before concluding with Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Piano in D minor, offering a vivid sense of dialogue between soloists and ensemble in music that moves between warmth, intensity and expressive charm. Stamford Arts Centre, 6.00pm, £30 plus £2 ticket commission.
Late Night: Different Trains
This late evening concert juxtaposes two contrasting musical journeys, opening with Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands D. 940, an inward and emotionally searching work rich in lyrical interplay, before moving to Steve Reich’s Different Trains, performed by the Ligeti Quartet. Stamford Arts Centre, 9.00pm, £20 plus £2 ticket commission.
Friday 22nd May
Lunchtime Concert:
Much Ado About Nothing
A varied, intimate programme begins with J S Bach’s Actus tragicus BWV 106 Sonatina in a transcription by Kurtág for piano four hands, followed by Mozart’s Violin Sonata No. 18 in G major K. 301, before Korngold’s Much Ado About Nothing suite Op. 11 for violin and piano offers theatrical colour and wit, complemented by Dobrinka Tabakova’s Insight for string trio and from 2013 which brings a contemporary, reflective voice, and concluding with Ligeti’s String Quartet No. 1 Métamorphoses nocturnes, a vivid and transformative work that explores shifting textures and moods within a compact musical form. Stamford Arts Centre, 1.00pm, £16 plus £2 ticket commission.
Evening Concert:
Dvořák ‘Dumky’ Trio
At the heart of the festival, this concert opens with Widmann’s 180 Beats per Minute, a driving and rhythmically charged work, before Dvořák’s Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor Op. 90 ‘Dumky’ unfolds in a series of contrasting movements inspired by Slavic folk forms, balancing melancholy reflection with moments of exuberance, and after the interval Korngold’s String Sextet in D major Op. 10 brings rich Romantic textures and sweeping lyricism to close a programme that moves between intensity, nostalgia and radiant musical expression. Stamford Arts Centre, 7.00pm, £30 plus £2 ticket commission.
Late Night Beethoven:
String Quartet Op.130
This late night performance is devoted to Beethoven’s String Quartet in B flat major Op. 130, one of the most expansive and searching works of his late period, a vast and deeply expressive composition that moves from passages of lightness and humour to moments of profound introspection, revealing the composer’s bold structural imagination and emotional depth in music that continues to challenge and inspire performers and audiences alike. Browne’s Hospital, 9.30pm, £20 plus £2 ticket commission.
Saturday 23rd May
Morning Concert: À la mémoire d’un grand artiste
This morning concert centres on Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor Op. 50 ‘À la mémoire d’un grand artiste’, a monumental chamber work written in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein, combining grand, sweeping gestures with deeply personal expression, its two large scale movements encompassing both elegiac reflection and virtuosic brilliance in a tribute that is at once intimate and expansive. Stamford Arts Centre, 11.30am, £16 plus £2 ticket commission.
Children’s Concert:
Family Programme
A relaxed and engaging introduction to chamber music, this family friendly performance features music from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, written after the composer’s stay in the city during 1890, alongside Turina’s The Circus, presented in an accessible and interactive format with piano and strings, offering younger audiences an imaginative and lively exploration of musical storytelling and instrumental colour. Stamford Arts Centre, 2.00pm, £8.
Festival Finale: Souvenir de Florence
The festival concludes with a celebratory programme bringing together many of the weekend’s musical threads, including Turina’s The Circus in an arrangement for piano quartet by Joseph Havlat presented as a world premiere, alongside a broader exploration of dance rhythms, theatrical character and Romantic lyricism, that reflects the festival’s theme of music that moves between joy and introspection, energy, colour and emotional breadth. Stamford Arts Centre, 7.30pm, £30 plus £2 ticket commission.