100th Festival: Friday 9th March - Saturday 24th March 2012

The Chipping Norton Music Festival is held during March each year in the Oxfordshire market town of Chipping Norton. Situated near the borders of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, the Festival has been promoting music-making in the north-east Cotswolds since 1904. One of the oldest festivals of its kind, the Festival celebrated its centenary in 2004.  Click here to see a message from our President, Anthony Williams.

The Festival is non-competitive and adjudicated by professionals; there are classes in music and drama for all ages, individuals and groups ranging from piano, voice, and composition through to verse-speaking. While the early years concentrated on choral singing, the Festival has evolved to include other solo and instrumental classes. Additions in the last 10 years include Speech & Drama (2000), folk (2003), the Hummer Prize for creative writing (2008) in memory of George Hummer, and the Youth Jazz Band Challenge (in association with the Rotary Club of Chipping Norton) in 2009.

The participatory classes are accompanied by a series of professional concerts, and the culmination of the Festival is a concert presenting the highlights where various trophies are awarded for outstanding performances from musicians and performers of all ages.

There are also two children's workshops giving hundreds of children from local primary schools the opportunity to perform.