Continuo Connect — Keble Early Music Festival

The Keble Early Music Festival was founded in 2015, initially as a platform for student performers, but quickly developed into its current form, hosting performances by some of the best professional artists in the field of early music. Recent guest artists have included the Tallis Scholars, Gabrieli Consort, the BBC Singers, the Academy of Ancient Music, Blackadder Baroque Brass, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, Rachel Podger, Roderick Williams, and many more, alongside a regular collaboration with Instruments of Time & Truth, Oxford’s world-class period instrument ensemble.

These concerts are interspersed with student performances, often with collaborative opportunities for students to work alongside professionals. A regular feature is a showcase for The Bate Collective, Oxford University’s historical performance ensemble, with access to instruments from The Bate Collection. With education as a strong theme, the KEMF has in recent years branched out to include schools workshops, in collaboration with the Oxfordshire County Music Service and Instruments of Time & Truth, and a regular one-day adult workshop in association with the Thames Valley Early Music Forum. Amid the busy programme of concerts are the regular chapel services, with an opportunity to hear the college’s first-rate choir sing Choral Evensong at 6pm on Wednesday and Compline by candlelight on Thursday at 9pm.

The 2023 festival was the first under the artistic lead of Christian Wilson, Keble’s new Director of Music. The Festival is proud of its educational core, and the 2023 festival featured no fewer than three student groups, including Antiquum Documentum, Oxford’s newest early music choir, in a programme featuring works from the Eton Choirbook.