DUE TO THE ONGOING CORONAVIRUS CRISIS WE HAVE WITH HUGE REGRET CANCELLED THIS YEAR'S
MEDIEVAL MUSIC IN THE DALES FESTIVAL.
A Castle Full Of Music!
In & Around Bolton Castle September 13th, 14th, 15th 2024
Online Festival 23-24 March 2024
Medieval Music
in the Dales
"a brilliant, beautiful, unique, and lovely festival"
Medieval Music in the Dales is England's festival of medieval music. Totally unique, it's a glorious three-day extravaganza dedicated solely to enjoying medieval music. The setting is absolutely stunning - magnificent Bolton Castle, built in 1399 by the noble Scrope family and still in the ownership of their descendants to this day.
Over the weekend, the Castle comes to life with music in every corner. It's true living history and a chance to make this incredible setting your home for the weekend - or just for the day. Whether you want to play, dance, learn or simply sit back and soak up the wonderful sounds, this is for you.
What they say...
"globally unique"
"the best music festival I’ve ever attended"
"fantastic things happening everywhere at every possible moment in every possible corner!"
"a wonderful, unique event"
"amazing atmosphere, everyone is friendly and the location is outstanding"
"everyone in the tavern was singing the chorus of a twelfth century song in Latin – how cool is that?"
"truly magical"
"a safe space to be a geek!"
Medieval Music in the Dales is also a community of medieval music enthusiasts collaborating on projects together, socialising online and in company. It operates to promote research into and performance of medieval music, and to support musicians active in medieval music-making. And with the COVID-19 crisis of 2020, we also took the plunge and started an Online Festival to operate alongside our live festival, and this now takes place every March.
But the September festival at Bolton Castle remains the heart of Medieval Music in the Dales, and is for anyone who loves music and history. Come and listen and find out more about the wonderful variety of medieval music - and if you play or sing, come and be part of the music-making!
Medieval Music in the Dales 2024
September 13th-15th 2024
Ludus - Mystery, Miracle & Mirth
LUDUS - it means 'play' in all its sense, so 2024 is all about magical music-making and storytelling, drama, mirth and miracles...
Expect church drama, dancing, myths and legends, tomfoolery and sacred mystery... a veritable Feast of Fools!
The concert programme is more or less fixed, but in the meantime, we welcome ideas for workshops, talks, and dance and drama performances.
The programme will be released in January 2024.
Left: the wonderful David Thomson as the Green Man at MMitD 2023. Photo Guy Carpenter
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Looking ahead
Planned for future years...
2025: The Medieval Instrumentarium. All about instruments - history, study, making and playing
2026: MMitD Big 10. Our tenth anniversary festival. Hmm... how best to mark this momentous occasion? Suggestions welcome!
We welcome applications for our concert programme and also ideas for workshops and talks. Please do get in touch as soon as possible. We welcome ideas for the 'in real life' September festival , and the online festival, which takes place every March.
More information about performing at MMitD here - please read.