Important dates:
Programme announcement: Wednesday 6 May
Start pre-sale Friends € 100+: Wednesday 13 May
Start pre-sale Friends € 50: Wednesday 20 May
Start general sale: Monday 1 June
Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht 2026 – Giving Voice
28 August until 6 September
Music begins with the voice: with breath that becomes sound, with a body that makes itself heard. We regard voices as what makes us unique. Speaking and singing feel to us like a fundamental human right.
Les voix humaines - the human voices - is the title of one of the most famous works by the French Baroque composer Marin Marais. Remarkably, he does not let those voices be heard in song, but in the strings of the viola da gamba. This paradox defines the festival theme: the human voice resounds, but never in just one way. It appears in ever-new forms, with the greatest diversity.
During Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht 2026, we let voices sound again. In doing so, we cherish a fondness for what is colourful and wondrous.
The repertoire for the voice is endless - from Gregorian monody to troubadour lyric poetry, and from the earliest sacred polyphony to secular forms such as opera, masque, and melodrama. We invite a contemporary composer to speak the language of the past. Singers perform as soloists or in large ensembles, even up to forty parts.
Festival highlights
View the timetable
Ensemble Castelkorn - artist in residence
A footnote in the history of early music? On the contrary: for centuries, Central Europe has been a fascinating soundscape where traditions meet and musical practices from all corners of the globe resonate. Josef Žák and his Ensemble Castelkorn are the ultimate specialists in early music from Bohemia and Moravia. Their favourite treasure trove: the Kroměříž archive, a breathtaking panorama of 17th-century styles.
This repertoire demands attention, care, and love – it reveals its beauty only to those who have an eye for detail, are willing to search for colour, and dare to experiment. You can hear the result in three concerts by our artist in residence: Traces of Moravia starts with folk songs from the Janáček collection; in Schmelzer’s Playground, all the chairs are pushed to the side; and in Soave devozione, soprano Céline Scheen does a balancing act between local and Southern influences.
Patrick Ayrton - artist in residence
In the Renaissance and the Baroque, musicians learned not only to play their instruments but also to improvise and compose. Together, these three disciplines formed the basis of musical craftsmanship. How different things are now, where improvisation is hardly taught and composing, especially in historical styles, is quickly regarded as a pretentious activity: ‘do you think you are better than Bach, perhaps?’
Not so for Patrick Ayrton, who, in all modesty, wishes to embrace all aspects of the old craft. After years of practicing and teaching improvisation, he decided to start writing as well. The result: Astrophil & Stella, a beautiful song cycle in the early English Baroque style. For those who can’t get enough of it, Ayrton also has a new series of compositions ready, this time in the 17th-century Italian style. He sets this new music against historical examples. And to wrap it up, during a third concert with his friends Saskia Coolen and Rainer Zipperling, Ayrton is allowed to indulge unashamedly in diminutions and improvisations.
Anthony Heidweiller - co-curator
What happens before a voice is heard? For Anthony Heidweiller, music does not begin with the first note, but with the breath that makes it possible. With Heidweiller’s contribution to the festival, the focus shifts from what we hear to how we listen… and who is being heard.
As co-curator, Heidweiller – singer, festival organizer, and inspiring driving force in the community arts – exposes an undercurrent that runs through the entire festival programme.
Voices carry, but they also ask for space. They connect, but sometimes also exclude. In four lectures and conversations, he explores this tension, with breath as a guide, on an exploratory journey between the individual and the community. Want to hear more clearly what has always been there? Experience how breath can provide balance and regeneration? Then this open invitation is for you.
Language: Dutch
