What is the Leeds Song Festival?
The Leeds Song Festival is an annual celebration of art-song, taking place at venues across Leeds, featuring performances, workshops, and talks by international musicians and emerging talent.
Below are the answers to some of the common questions we get asked about Leeds Song. If you can't find what you're looking for, don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.

The Leeds Song Festival is an annual celebration of art-song, taking place at venues across Leeds, featuring performances, workshops, and talks by international musicians and emerging talent.
The festival is open to everyone, whether you’re brand new to art-song or a seasoned attendee at one of our events.
Our events are accessible to all, especially those who are curious to try art-song for the first time. We perform songs in many different languages and provide audiences with translations and surtitles for songs performed in foreign languages. We commission programme notes to give you an overview of what you’re listening to, and offer enlightening pre-concert talks to delve further in to the repertoire given by prominent experts on song.
Come as you are – there is no dress code for attending any of our events. We want our audience to feel relaxed and comfortable at the festival.
You can find out more and book tickets via the What’s On pages of our website.
Tickets for our 2025 Festival (events between 5 – 12 April 2025) are being sold via Opera North’s box office. If you have any questions relating to tickets you have purchased, please contact the Opera North box office directly via 0113 223 3600.
Yes – we open all our events free of charge to students and anyone under the age of 30. We also off discounts when booking multiple tickets for our Festival.
Receive 10% off your order if you purchase 4-6 festival tickets, 12.5% off if you purchase 7-10 tickets and
15% off if you purchase over 11 tickets. This offer is limited to paid events only, and valid for a maximum
of two tickets per event. The discount only applies for orders made in one single transaction.
Accessibility is at the fore of our festival planning. All our venues are accessible for anyone with mobility issues, or those who require use of a wheelchair. Visit our venue page to learn more about each venue.
If you wish to make us aware of specific access requirements to ensure you have a comfortable visit to our festival, please don’t hesitate in contacting a member of our team.
You can support the festival by becoming a Friend of Leeds Song, making a donation, or attending events.
Yes, we make a commitment to live stream, free of charge, as much of the festival as possible. Live streams can be viewed for our Facebook and Youtube channels. You can also watch back any past event via our archive of video content.
Absolutely. We will publish programmes and song translations on the relevant “What’s On” page for your event.
Leeds is well supported by a network of public transport, with the bus station and train station acting as regional hubs for travel. Most festival sites are a short walk from the bus and train stations.
Although we encourage you to travel to our festival by public transport, there are plenty of car parks to service our festival venues.
Leeds Song is a politically neutral organisation. Views expressed in the works performed at the Leeds Song Festival or by the artists appearing at the Festival are not necessarily the views of the organisation, or anyone who works for the charity.
Membership is available to individuals rather than groups – this allows us to keep the scheme sustainable and reduces administration. However, all our member benefits entitle you to do everything with a guest; priority festival booking allows you to book two early tickets for each event, invitations to Friends, Patron and Jane Anthony Circle events will be for you and a guest, and you can contact us to add a second email address to receive the Friends newsletter.
We always want to offer the highest calibre of event at Leeds Song through programming the best international talent to perform at our festival, and continuing to inspire the next generation through our education programmes. To achieve this, we have taken the decision to raise the entry cost of becoming a Friend for the first time in a decade. In recognition of this, we have now introduced a monthly direct debit option to pay for your subscription, starting from £5.
We have kept the increase as modest as possible, and every penny goes directly into supporting the music-making you love.
A £10.00 ticket for anyone in receipt of:
A free seat can be offered to carers accompanying anyone with:
Free tickets:
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