Thursday 26 March, 6 pm
Songs of the River
A FREE CONCERT lasting approximately 1 hour, with retiring collection (cash or card) in aid of Hay Music’s Outreach Programme. No pre-booking required.
Come and hear the fruits of a very special river-themed songwriting project with pupils of Hay-on-Wye Primary School. An enthusiastic Year 5 class has collaborated with poet Francesca Kay and composer Robert Peate in writing words for four songs, setting them to music and practising hard to perform them alongside soprano Jessica Summers and pianist Jelena Makarova, the acclaimed ‘Living Songs’ Duo. Exploring and celebrating the vital presence of rivers in our lives, this performance carries an extra poignancy as our own beloved River Wye is in so much need of protection and support.
The concert will feature the four songs written by the children, plus a brief selection of other river-themed works performed by Jessica and Jelena.
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Saturday 28 March, 3 pm
Hay Music presents Hereford Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Michael Bell, MBE
Programme
Gioachino Rossini The Italian Girl in Algiers
Richard Wagner Siegfried Idyll
Felix Mendelssohn Italian Symphony
The Hereford Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1958 as a string orchestra. With the addition of woodwind, percussion and brass sections it is now a full symphony orchestra and is the only regular adult orchestra in Herefordshire.
Full details and tickets at www.haymusic.org
Tickets also from the Hay Tourist Bureau and at the door if not sold out. A limited number of free tickets are available for under 25s.
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Saturday 2nd May, 10.30 am coffee, 11.00 am performance
Monthly Organ Recital on the Bevington Organ
Please note: there will be no organ recital on Saturday 4th April (Holy Saturday)
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Hay Festival 2026 – events at St. Mary’s church
Friday 22 May , 7.30-8.45 pm
#24 Will Barnes Quartet
In Concert: Outside the Light
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Saturday 23 May, 10-11 am
# 36 Stephen Grosz talks to Claudia Hammond
Loves Labour: Why We Need to Do the Emotional Work
Saturday 23 May, 11.30 am – 12.30 pm
#41 Owain Mulligan
The Accidental Soldier
Saturday 23 May, 1-2 pm
#45 Ronan McCrea talks to Philippe Sands
The End of the Gay Rights Revolution
Saturday 23 May, 2.30-3.30 pm
#51 Liliana Colanzi and Hanna Limulja talk to Polly Russell
Dreaming of Resistance: Indigenous Cultures in the Face of Collapse
Saturday 23 May, 4-5pm
#58 Liliana Colanzi and Eduardo Halfon talk to Ángel Gurria-Quintana
South to North Conversations: Language, Memory and Community in the Face of Disaster
Saturday 23 May, 8-9.30 pm
#71 Hay Music Concert – GBSR Duo with Taylor MacLennan
Piano and percussion GBSR Duo are joined by renowned flautist Taylor MacLennan to perform American composer Morton Feldman’s Crippled Symmetry, Op.71
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Sunday 24 May, 1-2 pm
#93 Jenny Evans talks to Samira Ahmed
Don’t Let it Break You Honey
Sunday 24 May, 2.30-3.30 pm
#100 Selma Dabbagh and Elisa Díaz Castelo talk to Gaby Wood
Literary Pairs: the Past Inside the Present
Sunday 24 May, 6 pm
#113 Evensong at St Mary’s
Led by S. Mary’s priest, Fr. David Wyatt, and with a short homily by writer and journalist Quentin Letts. This is not ticketed and all are welcome.
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Monday 25 May, 1-2.30 pm
#135 BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 1
Claire Booth (soprano) and Anna Tilbrook (piano): Grieg and More
Programme
Percy Grainger Bold William Taylor
Percy Grainger The Power of Love (Danish Folk-Music Suite)
Edvard Grieg The Mountain Maid (Hautussa), Op 67
Agathe Backer Grøndahl Siklebækken, Op 30 No 9
Frederick Delius Seven Danish Songs (excerpt)
Maurice Ravel Cinq mélodies populaires grecques
*****
Tuesday 26 May, 1-2.30 pm
#169 BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 2
Alexander Ullman (piano): Grieg and More
Programme
Edvard Grieg, trans. Alexander Ullman Peer Gynt Suite No 1, Op 46
Edvard Grieg Lyric Pieces Book 10, Op 71
Richard Wagner, trans. Franz Liszt Tannhäuser Overture, S. 442
*****
Wednesday 27 May, 1-2.30 pm
#209 BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert 3
Guy Johnston (cello) and Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano): Grieg and More
Programme
Benjamin Britten Sonata in C for cello and piano, Op 65
Edvard Grieg Cello Sonata in A minor, Op 36
*****
Thursday 28 May, 11.30 am-12.30 pm
#248 Juliet Russell
Song in an Hour: Freedom! 90
Thursday 28 May, 1-3 pm
#253 How to Build a Library: Maia Lekow and Angela Wachuka talk to Kitty Corrigan
Documentary Screening followed by Q&A
Thursday 28 May, 8.30-9.45 pm
#281 Sarah Smout: If Glaciers Were Gods
Sarah Smout – environmental activist, cellist and singer – invites us to listen more deeply to the fragile beauty of polar regions.
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Friday 29 May, 2.30-3.30 pm
#303 Catrin Finch talks to Carys Eleri
Notes to Self
Friday 29 May, 7-9.15 pm
#321 Folklore Late: Joey Batey and Madeleine Hyland
It’s Not a Cult & The Amazing Devil: Book Talk and Live Music
*****
Saturday 30 May, 2.30-4 pm
#350 Hay Music – Tama Matheson and Clare Hammond
Andrzej Panufnik: His Quest for Peace
A music-play about the life and work of Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik.
Saturday 30 May, 8.30-9.45 pm
#379 Karen McCarthy Woolf, Scott McKendry, clare e potter and Roseanne Watt with Kathryn Williams
The Clearing
This year’s four Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Poets give a première of new collaborations co-conceived with musician Kathryn Williams.
Our bar will be serving wine, beers, coffee, tea, homemade cakes and more, throughout the Festival. Profits to St. Marys.
For more details about these events and for tickets, please see Hay Festival