This concert forms part of Bachfest, a festival that invites fresh listening and deeper context around the music we think we know. The evening opens with an introduction to the festival’s new Artistic Director, Adrian Brendel, followed by a conversation with Solomon’s Knot Artistic Director Jonathan Sells and writer-director Federay Holmes, setting the scene for what follows.

The programme centres on two remarkable English composers working in turbulent times. George Jeffreys (c.1610–1685), organist to Charles I, lived through the English Civil War and absorbed the emotional richness of Italian madrigals, folding their expressiveness into the intensity of Anglican church music. Alongside him sits William Lawes, whose daring, often radical chamber music helped shape what came next, directly influencing Henry Purcell.

Together, their music reveals a period of experimentation, resilience and cross-cultural exchange. It’s an evening of discovery, conversation and connection, perfectly in tune with Bachfest’s spirit of curiosity and re-examination.