Budleigh Music Festival returns for its twenty-first year from Thursday 25 June to Saturday 4 July.
The programme of events opens with a fundraising concert for the RNLI to honour the life of local antiques dealer Matthew Upham, who perished at sea during a 2025 Christmas Day swim.
Other festival highlights include an English Musical Theatre Orchestra performance of pieces by composer Stephen Sondheim and a concert of English and French Baroque music by Bellot Ensemble.
New chamber orchestra Crescent Collective will make its debut with performances of Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Holst’s The Planets, which will be accompanied by projections of choreographed NASA imagery by video artist Adrian Wyard.
The festival concludes with a tribute to Budleigh Salterton resident Hilary Mantel, who died in 2022. Lochrian Ensemble will perform the original score from the BBC adaptation of Wolf Hall accompanied by soprano Grace Davidson and actor Anton Lesser, who portrayed Sir Thomas Moore.
There will also be music workshops for all ages, hosted by Duo Tutti and The Sound of the Streets, and free performances of folk, pop, blues and jazz in Wesley’s café gardens every day from 10.30am to 2.30pm.
Budleigh Music Festival began in 2005 as part of an arts festival launched by local residents Roger and Brenda Bowen with the aim of attracting national and international artists to Devon.
Over the following years the original arts event spawned an independent jazz festival, which ran until 2017, and the Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, which takes place from 23-27 September this year.
A registered charity, backed by Festival Friends and donations, Budleigh Music Festival is now in its twenty-first year.
Budleigh Music Festival takes place from Thursday 25 June to Saturday 4 July 2026 at St Peter’s Church, Temple Methodist Church and Budleigh Salterton Public Hall.
Tickets start from £10 plus booking fees.
For more information and to book tickets visit the Budleigh Music Festival website.
