a welcome from sara

Welcome to the 2023 Dartington Music Summer School & Festival: four weeks of shared music-making, with courses and workshops on offer for musicians of all ages and abilities, from medieval, folk and classical music to new composition and jazz.

We’ll be celebrating 75 years of Summer School by looking to the future, with our biggest ever family offer, courses for young people in every week, a generous bursary scheme that nurtures new talent, and several new courses reflecting current practice in music.

We’ll also be marking 70 years since the Summer School found its permanent home in the beautiful grounds of Dartington Hall in Devon, and we’ll be bringing the gardens to life with a series of site-specific, outdoor and promenade performances – not to mention the usual inspiring sounds of chamber music under trees, songs floating out from the Ship Studio, and impromptu warm-ups on the lawn!

And throughout the four weeks, we’ll be exploring how we tell our own stories in sound and music, with courses for singer-songwriters and radio makers, and others that provoke us to examine the stories we tell about the music we love.

We are thrilled to welcome many familiar faces along with several new artists, who’ll bring their talent and expertise to the classes on offer, and we’ll be announcing full details of the accompanying Festival programme of concerts and events in due course.

Whether you want to sing Bach’s B Minor Mass, Thea Musgrave’s Missa Brevis, learn to dance an Estampie or study film composition, try your hand at jazz improvisation or play your recorder in the Deer Park, there really is something in here for everyone!

I look forward to seeing you for another unforgettable summer of music.

Sara