Leeds Song Festival returns in April 2027 with an ambitious week of song that brings some of the world’s leading artists to Yorkshire, while continuing to expand what a song festival can be. 

Breaking records with each new Festival, Leeds Song’s reach now extends well beyond Leeds, with performances reaching international audiences through livestreams and broadcasts. The 2026 Festival was described by The Times as offering “world-class” music-making, while The Guardian wrote: 

“Leeds’s top-tier celebration of the vocal arts continues to push the envelope… typical of director Joseph Middleton’s determination to think outside the box while honouring the festival’s roots in the traditional recital.” 

The 2027 theme, The Song Within, explores what lies inside a song: memory, identity, poetry, place, connection and emotion, while bringing together artists, audiences and communities in unexpected ways. 

Among this year’s international stars are Sir Simon Keenlyside, Fatma Said, Christiane Karg, Carolyn Sampson OBE, Beth Taylor, Christopher Maltman, Christoph Prégardien, Sir Stephen Hough, Jasdeep Singh Degun, Joseph Middleton and Errollyn Wallen, alongside Kitty Whately, Nicholas Mulroy, Elizabeth Kenny, Jess Dandy and many emerging artists. 

But Leeds Song is about far more than star names. Its 2027 programme explores what happens when song is placed in conversation with new technology, visual art, different musical traditions, new writing, scholarship and the wider community. 

 

From Dowland to new worlds 

The breadth of the programme ranges from some of the earliest lute-accompanied songs to world premieres, taking in the great Lied tradition (Maltman, Prégardien and Karg all perform Schubert), and the highways and byways of Hildegard von Bingen, Elizabeth Maconchy, Messiaen, Egyptian song and contemporary work. 

In partnership with SAA-UK, sitarist and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun appears alongside vocalist Spoorthi Rao, while Degun and Errollyn Wallen meet for a conversation before Wallen performs her own music later that evening in the HAR Bar. 

The Festival also continues its relationship with the Leeds International Piano Competition, celebrating the music of its Artistic Director, Sir Stephen Hough. 

 

Pushing the recital forward 

Leeds Song continues to ask what a song recital can be in the 21st century. 

Kitty Whately, Anna Tilbrook and illustrator James Mayhew combine song and live visual creativity, while Carolyn Sampson’s Star Falling, created with tenor and visual artist Andrew Staples and pianist Joseph Middleton, explores an immersive multimedia approach to performance and includes a world premiere by Roderick Williams. 

Meanwhile, the new A Leeds Songbook brings composers and poets together to create new songs inspired by the city, presented through a Composers & Poets Forum, showcase and exhibition. Visual artists respond to the new material by producing work that reflects the themes explored. 

The Festival’s partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Society further supports new repertoire, including a new cycle by Aníbal Vidal. 

 

Music made by everyone 

Community participation remains central. Gareth Malone OBE leads Leeds singers in a Bring and Sing! — a mass performance of Mozart’s Requiem — turning audiences into performers and opening the Festival with music made on a genuinely communal scale. 

Young artists remain equally important. Masterclasses for singers and pianists selected for the Young Artist Programme are led by Sir Simon Keenlyside, Roger Vignoles, Kate Royal, Christiane Karg, Mark Padmore, Audrey Hyland and Christoph Prégardien, alongside showcases and performances throughout the week. 

Leading academics and writers Professors Natasha Loges and Richard Stokes offer talks and conversations that shed new light on familiar repertoire, while performances such as Beth Taylor’s BSL-integrated recital continue Leeds Song’s commitment to making song accessible to wider audiences. 

Joseph Middleton, Director of Leeds Song, said: 

“We are bringing some of the greatest artists in the world to Yorkshire, but just as important to us are the opportunities for people to make music themselves, the new songs being written here, and the extraordinary collaborations with our partners and friends. 

“We want to honour this extraordinary tradition without putting it behind glass. We can move from the earliest lute songs to world premieres, from Mozart’s Requiem with Gareth Malone to Jasdeep Singh Degun and Errollyn Wallen, from scholarship to multimedia. Above all, we want to keep asking what song can be, who it can belong to and where it can go next.” 

Leeds Song Festival 2027 takes place across Leeds from 10–17 April 2027, bringing together internationally acclaimed performers, emerging artists, composers, poets and audiences for a week celebrating both the extraordinary heritage and the future of song. 

Come and find the song within.