About the Ryedale Festival

In 1981 four musician friends, Geoffrey and June Emerson and Peter and Alex White, had the idea of launching a small series of local concerts. This first Helmsley Festival brought together more friends and other professional musicians, and made an immediate impact on the town and its surroundings. So popular did it become that after five Festivals a broader base was called for, and the Ryedale District Council stepped in with the generous support it has ever since maintained. Events now range far and wide in the area to make a true Ryedale Festival.

Performances are given in Ampleforth Abbey and sometimes York Minster, with opera in the great houses of Hovingham Hall and Settrington House, and concerts in Castle Howard, Duncombe Park and Sledmere, as well as in the thriving Helmsley Arts Centre. It is essentially a rural festival, with a very popular series of morning Coffee Concerts given in the beautiful, sometimes remote village churches that characterize this part of Yorkshire. It is also a community festival, with local artists taking part alongside artists of national and international fame, and local people helping to run the Festival

In 1996 Malcolm Layfield took over as Artistic Director, and led the Festival from strength to strength, in part by inspired programme planning centred on national themes:  Russia, France, America, Austria, England, Spain and Czech music.  Growing commitments led him to retire in 2005 and the Festival continues to flourish under the direction of Justin Doyle, who took over for a very successful 2006 Festival.

The Festival has won itself a national and even international circle of friends, and indeed the membership of official Festival Patrons and Friends now numbers over 600.  It is in part through such support that the Ryedale Festival has become firmly established as among the most enterprising and attractive in England. The future remains bright; but in difficult times such support is more vital than ever. Join us among friends for the next Festival; but do also join us as a Friend to help us maintain all that has been achieved and to develop still further.

Ryedale Festival Trust Limited
A Company limited by Guarantee and Registered in England and Wales Company Registration No. 5976080
Registered Charity No. 1117355 | VAT No. 50069845