Surrey Hills International Music Festival (SHIMF) is delighted to announce the programme for its 2025 season.
Each spring, SHIMF brings world-class musicians to perform in stunning venues across the Surrey Hills. This year we are thrilled to welcome the Duke of Northumberland as a Patron.
• Highlights include outstanding vocal ensemble VOCES8 which sold out within hours of going on sale (returns only now).
• 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition winner Alim Beisembayev playing Chopin Preludes, works by Scarlatti, Liszt and Ravel and Eleanor Alberga’s ‘Cwicseolfor’
• Musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York joining the Sitkovetsky Trio in Strauss’s Metamorphosen as well as featuring as soloists in a Baroque programme including Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Double Violin concerto
* SHIMF continues to support young artists with two Lunchtime Young Artist Concerts: the first includes winners of the New Elizabethan Award, the Londinium Consort, who perform music from the two Elizabethan ages, alongside a talk by Katy Hamilton. The second, with a return to the beautiful medieval church of St Michael’s Betchworth, features gifted young students from The Yehudi Menuhin School.
The Festival combines world-class music with the natural beauty of the Surrey Hills, offering guided walks through the picturesque countryside of West Horsley Place and Betchworth.
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME
Tuesday 6 May – Guided walk (optional) Talk and Concert
Onward Journeys: music, exile and pilgrimage
Katy Hamilton, speaker; Londinium Consort
10.30am walk, 12.30pm Concert and talk West Horsley Place KT24 6AN
Thursday 8 May
Alim Beisembayev, solo piano
Scarlatti Sonatas selection
Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales
Liszt Après une lecture du Dante
Eleanor Alberga Cwicseolfor
Chopin 24 Preludes, Op.28
7.30pm The Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon KT11 3QQ
Saturday 10 May
VOCES8: Twenty!
20 Songs from 20 years of VOCES8
7.30pm Holy Trinity Church, High Street, Guildford GU1 3RR
SOLD OUT – RETURNS ONLY
Monday 12 May –Guided Walk (optional) and Young Artists’ Concert
Students from The Yehudi Menuhin School
10.30am walk, 12.30pm Concert. St Michael’s Church, Betchworth
Thursday 15 May
The Late Romantic
Musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York:
Kristin Lee, violin
Arnaud Sussmann, violin/viola
Nicholas Canellakis, cello
Sitkovetsky Trio:
Alexander Sitkovetsky, violin
Isang Enders, cello
Wu Qian, piano
Philip Dukes viola
Will Duerden double bass
Barber Adagio for strings
Chaminade Piano Trio No.2
Wagner Albumblatt (Romance) for violin and piano
Strauss Metamorphosen
6.30pm Pre-concert talk by musician and broadcaster Sandy Burnett
7.30pm Concert The Menuhin Hall, Cobham Road, Stoke d’Abernon KT11 3QQ
Saturday 17 May
Festival Finale: Baroque Virtuoso
Musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York:
Kristin Lee, violin
Arnaud Sussmann, violin/viola
Nicholas Canellakis, cello
Flute 1 Anna Wolstenholme
Flute 2 Daniel Shao
Violin Natalie Klouda
Violin So-Ock Kim
Viola Ben Roskams
Cello Ariana Kashefi
Double bass Will Duerden
Continuo Masumi Yamamoto
Leclair Sonata for Two Violins in E minor, Op.3 No.5
Vivaldi Cello Concerto in C minor, RV 401
Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D, BWV 1050
Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043
Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G, BWV 1049
7.30pm St Martin’s Church, Dorking RH4 1UT
For tickets visit the Surrey Hills International Music Festival website.