Leith Hill Music Festival is a competitive choral festival for amateur choirs in the Surrey area held over two days in April with a combined concert each evening.
In addition, each year in March, the Festival hosts a performance of a major choral work, such as Messiah, or Bach’s St Matthews Passion. This year it is Haydn’s Creation. This is accompanied by a full professional orchestra and top soloists and is open to members of the festival choirs and independent singers.
Welcome to the new Leith Hill Music Festival season!
Sunday 8 March 2026: Spring Concert - Haydn’s Creation Dorking Halls 19:00
Did you know that ‘The Creation’ - Haydn’s last major work composed between 1796/8 - caused such a stir that police officers were required to bring order to the crowds gathered outside the Schwarzenburg Palace in Vienna?
Come and enjoy one of Haydn’s most vivid and popular works as it causes a stir in Dorking Halls (!), packed with dramatic choruses (The Heavens are telling…) and beautiful arias (With verdure clad…).
Haydn pulled no musical punches - enjoy the abnormally large orchestration for the era (large wind and brass forces) and ground-breaking imagination with instrumental colours. With sparkling choruses and sumptuous arias, we are left with a complete sense of joy and wonder at the achievements of the first six days of life on earth.
Under the baton of Festival Conductor Neil Ferris, our Baroque Orchestra Canzona together with professional soloists Ellie Laugharne, Jonathan Cooke and Trevor Eliot Bowes this has the promise of a dramatic performance…
Click on ‘Buy Tickets’ below to secure your seat now!
Ges Ray, Chairman
Conductor - Neil Ferris
Festival: Friday 10th April
Da Vinci Requiem - Cecilia McDowall
The Lark Ascending - Vaughan Williams
Five Mystical Songs - Vaughan Williams
Choirs: Capel, Dorking, Epsom, Leatherhead and Oxshott
Leith Hill Music Festival 2026
Festival: Saturday 11th April
Zadok the Priest - Handel
Dixit Dominus RV594 - Vivaldi
Dixit Dominus - Isabella Leonarda
The King shall Rejoice – Handel
Choirs: Beare Green and Newdigate, Bookham, Buckland and Betchworth,
Holmbury St Mary, Horsley and Mickleham
NEW ARTICLE
‘Music Won the Cause’ - Brian and Val In Conversation
What is the Leith Hill Music Festival?
Imagine.
You love singing. You really love singing. You have joined your local choir, perhaps coming back to the joy of singing at a point where life’s travails enable you so to do. You are reveling in the bonhomie – even the bon-harmony! – of voices from all walks of life coming together to celebrate in sound. Regular rehearsals. Regular local concerts. A stress reliever & mental health workout like no other. You love it.
In an elated moment, you imagine performing from a professional stage in a major venue, in the midst of two hundred or so voices, a live professional orchestra just yards in front of you, singing your heart out to a welcoming audience, an international conductor crafting a crescendo as trumpets burst through the balcony doors to blow the roof off the auditorium in a blast that sends a shiver down your spine, let alone the audience…
You don’t need to imagine.
This is the Leith Hill Music Festival. Right here, right now. The vignette above is a memorable moment from our performance of Verdi Requiem! Thanks to the vision of two founders, the professional skills of six international conductors, the enthusiasm of thousands of amateur voices over the years, LHMF has been bringing the joy of singing to choir members and audiences alike since 1905.
As a choir member you have an unparalleled opportunity - out of reach for many choirs - to sing major works in the choral repertoire, and we haven’t even started on the fun of competing in the morning – all in the best possible spirit – to the discerning ears of a professional adjudicator for cups and trophies to polish with pride. As an audience member you are supporting an amazing organisation, rich in history, abundant in potential.
This is the Leith Hill Music Festival. The joy of singing. Right here, right now.
We are always looking for volunteers to help on Festival days e.g stewards, programme sellers, flower arrangers, Adjudicator chaperone. If you would like to volunteer please listen for announcements at the Joint rehearsals or contact the festival organiser.
Are you a PR Person? A Mailchimp Master? The Festival would welcome your help; contact the chairman or festival organiser.
Volunteering opportunities
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