Ryedale Festival has announced a three-year partnership with Sinfonia of London and its Artistic Director, conductor John Wilson.

The partnership launches on July 12, 2026, with a concert at York Barbican titled “An English Summer,” featuring a program of British orchestral music ranging from Vaughan Williams’s “The Lark Ascending” and Walton’s “Spitfire Prelude and Fugue” to light music classics by Eric Coates and Haydn Wood. Further projects across 2027 and 2028 will be announced in due course.

Wilson relaunched Sinfonia of London in 2018 with the aim of assembling outstanding players for projects of genuine artistic conviction. The orchestra has since become a fixture at the BBC Proms and London’s Barbican Centre, earned five BBC Music Magazine Awards in five years, a Gramophone Award, and made its international debut at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw in November 2025.

“Ryedale Festival has exactly that sense of purpose — ambitious programming, a genuine relationship with its audience, and a commitment to taking great music beyond the obvious places,” said Wilson, per an official press release. “I’m delighted we’ll be returning over the next three years.”

Founded in 1981, Ryedale Festival is considered one of Europe’s leading classical music festivals, presenting performances across more than forty historic venues throughout North Yorkshire. The full Summer 2026 program will be announced on March 27, 2026.

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