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A very special Sheffield music festival is set to celebrate the power of storytelling when it returns with an award-winning soprano at the helm next month.
Claire Booth, winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year 2025, is guest curator for Music in the Round’s 43rd Sheffield Chamber Music Festival in May.
The singer has combined diverse musical genres with strands from poetry, opera, film and theatre to explore the intersections of stories and music.
Events in the nine-day programme include those paying homage to the work of literary titan Samuel Beckett and timeless folk tales such as Peter and the Wolf.
Claire, who opens the festival with one-woman opera King Harald’s Saga, a retelling of the story of ‘the last real Viking’ Harald Hardrada, said: “If I’m known for anything, it probably is breadth.
“That’s my aim with Sheffield Chamber Music Festival: to create a festival with incredible range and breadth of repertoire.
“I’m thrilled that we’re having a deep dive into words and music - including folk music and jazz - and exploring why we connect music and text.”
Claire will also perform with GRAMMY-winning pianist Christopher Glynn on 19 May in Francis Poulenc’s operatic take of Jean Cocteau’s play La Voix Humaine.
Feldman & Beckett: Words & Music on 18 May is devoted to the work of the great Samuel Beckett and his warm friendship with the composer Morton Feldman, directed by Vicky Featherstone.
On 20 May, there will be a trio of events dedicated to storytelling. An introductory talk is followed by a relaxed concert of the timeless classic Peter and the Wolf, which also features in the evening along with other musical fairytales.
That same day, leading folk musicians Miranda Rutter, Sam Sweeney and Rob Harbron showcase new songs crafted from fragments of woodland birdsong in Bird Tunes.
Worth getting up early for are the sunrise concerts on 17 May from resident musicians Ensemble 360 in the Samuel Worth Chapel, with music inspired by birdsong performed as the dawn breaks. Insights into local birds can be enjoyed by ticket-holders after each event with a cemetery walk with BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Tom McKinney, a keen birder.
This year the festival crosses the border into Derbyshire, with Speak of the North taking place at Chatsworth Estate on 21 May.
This special one-off event featuring a new work by composer Gavin Higgins co-commissioned by Music in the Round, includes a guided walk book-ended by two concerts.
The music features poems by northern writers, including the Brontë sisters, and about Northumberland’s famous Sycamore Gap tree.
Claire added: “We’re really encouraging the audience at this event to ruminate on what their idea of the north is, and what the piece means to them.”
Another highlight, on Saturday 16 May for one night only, is when superstar jazz pianist Gwilym Simcock and his band team up with Claire and Ensemble 360 to give a very special performance in Crosscurrents: Gwilym Simcock and Friends.
The festival also includes Beethoven’s beloved Septet, a sunset concert, family fun with Izzy Gizmo and the first ever live staging of Julian Phillips’ children’s opera Henny Penny in a performance that includes children from Sheffield schools.
The festival runs from 15-23 May with 22 events, many at the Crucible Theatre.
Tickets are now on sale and can be booked HERE
