2025 Festival Archive

For the first time, we decided to begin our 2025 festival with the ever-popular Festival Compline, a meditative church service by candlelight in the beautiful Gidleigh Church right on the fringe of Dartmoor.

Compline is a contemplative service for the end of the day, characterised by melodious threads of medieval plainchant and prayers for a peaceful night. As well as singing the plainchant, Ensemble-in-Residence Corvus Consort also performed choral motets by William Byrd and James MacMillan.

The service also featured an instrumental prelude composed specially for the occasion by our 2025 Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto, and performed by the Festival String Quartet.

Thanks to our Festival Supporters, we were able to continue expanding our Learning & Engagement programme, this year working with six local primary schools to offer singing opportunities to around 200 local children.

Following on from a series of smaller workshops earlier in the year, all six schools came together for a joyful day of music during the festival in September. Our L&E team led everyone through a fun and engaging day of group singing, during which the children finished learning a whole set of songs ready for their performances later in the day, including Starling Song, written specially for them by our 2025 Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto.

In the afternoon, the massed voices of the WAF Children’s Choir gave an informal showcase performance for family & friends at Moretonhampstead Primary School, including a very moving rendition of Ben Nobuto’s Starling Song. Later on, participating children appeared again to perform their songs on stage in Moretonhampstead Church alongside our resident professional musicians as part of Concert 1 (see below!).

You can find out more about our Learning & Engagement programme on this page.

Our opening concert of the 2025 festival saw Corvus Consort take to the skies for a bird’s-eye view of choral music, presenting musical depictions of nightingales, skylarks, swallows and ravens, as well as an owl and a very famous "blue bird". Works by 20th-century English masters Stanford and Finzi were presented alongside music by contemporary composers Becky McGlade, Caroline Shaw and Toby Young, as well as traditional folk song arrangements. Corvus also performed an award-winning piece by our 2025 Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto.

At the heart of the concert was a very special performance by the WAF Children’s Choir, performing a set of songs they had learned as part of WAF's Learning & Engagement programme. Guided by our L&E Co-Leads Hannah King & George Cook, and accompanied by Harry Baker on piano, the Children’s Choir sang beautifully, and enjoyed the opportunity to share the stage with the professional singers of Corvus Consort. They also gave the world premiere performance of Starling Song, composed specially for the children by our 2025 Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto.

Our second concert featured an evening of chamber music in Moretonhampstead Church from the prize-winning Delphine Trio, who presented a mesmerising showcase of the great variety of music for clarinet, cello and piano.

Bookended by two great 19th-century composers, the concert opened with Beethoven's renowned "Gassenhauer Trio" and finished with the Clarinet Trio of French composer and virtuoso pianist Louise Farrenc — also marking the 150th anniversary of her death, which fell in 2025.

The programme also featured music by French composer Camille Pépin (inspired by Japanese woodblock prints) and the miraculous Spell by Per Nørgård, a performance dedicated to the memory of Nørgård who died earlier the same year at the age of 92.

A new initiative for 2025, the Songwriting Workshop was led by singer-songwriter and educator Jamie Doe (aka The Magic Lantern), ahead of his evening performance in the Long Room as the headline act of Concert 4 (see below). Workshop participants were given the chance to practically explore a range of creative tools for starting, developing and finishing songs, as well as considering the social function of songwriting.

Friday’s late-morning coffee concert saw the Festival String Quartet perform to a sold-out Throwleigh Church, taking the audience on a journey across the pond to hear some of the finest American music for string quartet.

Framed with movements from Antonín Dvořák's "American Quartet", one of the most enduringly popular works of the string quartet repertoire, the programme also featured music by 20th-century composer Florence Price and 2013-Pulitzer-Prize-winner Caroline Shaw. The quartet also gave the concert premiere of REM Chant by Ben Nobuto, composed specially for WAF 2025 by Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto.

After the triumphant final chords of Dvořák’s quartet the audience clamoured for more, and were treated to an encore with a beautiful rendition of Gershwin’s It ain’t necessarily so.

Friday evening’s Drewsteignton double-bill began with another sold-out show in The Long Room at the Drewe Arms. The Magic Lantern is the moniker of singer-songwriter and composer Jamie Doe, who appeared in duo formation with multi-instrumentalist Fred Thomas, performing music from their latest album ‘To Everything A Season’. The show also featured a unique collaboration with a quartet of singers from Corvus Consort, who joined The Magic Lantern to sing vocal arrangements of his songs created specially for this gig by Freddie Crowley.

The second concert in Friday evening’s Drewsteignton double-bill took us to the magical candlelit setting of Drewteignton Church for the third sold-out concert of the day, this time featuring the sixteen voices of Corvus Consort and a programme of vocal music exploring love poetry from The Song of Songs.

Moving around the candlelit church, Corvus produced a shifting tapestry of vocal sound ranging from centuries-old music by Antoine Brumel and Raffaella Aleotti through to recent decades with Howard Skempton, Gabriel Jackson and Ola Gjeilo. There was a world premiere of a choral piece by Jamie Doe (who had performed earlier in the evening under the moniker of The Magic Lantern across the road at The Long Room in Concert 4), and members of Corvus Consort were also joined by the Festival String Quartet for David Lang’s minimalist masterpiece Just (after Song of Songs).

At the end of the programme, the masterful Renaissance polyphony of Tomás Luis de Victoria was presented side by side with contemporary music by Jonathan Dove — Dove's setting of the text Vadam et circuibo civitatem inspired directly by Victoria's interpretation composed more than 400 years before.

Endecott House in Chagford was full to bursting on Saturday morning for traditional our ‘Music & Coffee Morning’, a charming informal social event interspersed with short performances from our resident artists. In amongst coffee, cake and conversation, attendees were treated to some lovely songs from guest vocalist Matthew McKinney with Harry Baker on piano, a fun set of a cappella tunes from members of Corvus Consort, and an illustrated talk & performance from Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto with the Festival String Quartet.

New in 2025, our Open Rehearsal event allowed audience members to go behind the scenes and observe a live rehearsal session as Corvus Consort worked with Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto on his newly commissioned work O Joy. Hosting the event, Freddie Crowley provided attendees with unique insights into the creative process of coaxing a brand new piece of music off the page and bringing it to life, as well as practical aspects of working with choirs. Ben Nobuto also gave more background to O Joy, ahead of its premiere the next day as part of Concert 7 in Chagford Church (see below).

In the sixth concert of WAF 2025, Kathleen Ferrier Award winner Matthew McKinney performed a deeply moving recital with his duo partner Roelof Temmingh, revolving around Robert Schumann's iconic song cycle Dichterliebe. 'Finding Freedom' is Matthew and Roelof's ongoing recital project, but this was the first time they had included Dichterliebe in their programme, and we were immensely privileged to witness their debut performance of these magnificent songs.

The second half explored themes of freedom through a carefully curated selection of 20th century and contemporary songs, including music by Ivor Gurney, Judith Weir, Frank Bridge and John Ireland. And towards the end of the concert, a traditional Scottish song was interwoven with Roelof's own poignant setting of a beautiful letter in Afrikaans, written by his grandfather to his grandmother at the end of her life. It was during this very moving sequence that the church was plunged into darkness by a village-wide power cut, but Matthew & Roelof showcased their professionalism by continuing unfazed and giving a brilliant and deeply emotional performance.

After a rapturous reception, Matthew & Roelof returned for an encore, performing the dramatic and highly virtuosic Marechiare by Paolo Tosti, a song in the Neapolitan language, and a true showstopper of the Italian bel canto tradition.

It was a great treat to welcome back the Harry Baker Trio, after their sell-out performance at our first ever jazz night back in 2022. Led by star pianist and WAF favourite Harry Baker, the Trio performed to another sell-out audience in Chagford’s Jubilee Hall, putting their unique stamp on a diverse range of music, from classic favourites of the American Songbook to folk melodies and original compositions by the band.

In a special collaboration uniquely devised for WAF 2025, the trio also joined forces with the Festival String Quartet for several numbers, as well as performing a couple of items with the electric violin of Athena Octavia, leader of the Quartet.

Before the Harry Baker Trio took to the stage, the evening opened with a set from the ever-popular “WAFter Eights”, the jazz a cappella incarnation of Corvus Consort’s lower voices, who have found themselves a regular spot at the Festival Jazz Night in recent years…

Endecott House was filled with children and their parents on Sunday morning for a live musical storytelling of Michael Rosen’s classic book, "We’re going on a bear hunt!”. Led by singer-presenter Hannah King with Harry Baker on piano, the event also featured an array of participatory teddy-bears'-picnic-themed songs and games, so everyone could get involved. Lots of teddy bears came along for the ride, and we all enjoyed an interactive and fun-filled musical morning!

Returning for a second year, ‘Meet the Musicians’ offered a free and informal opportunity for attendees to meet some of WAF’s resident performers and have a friendly conversation, all in the beautiful surroundings of Astor’s Bookshop in Chagford.

Our Come&Sing workshop saw its largest group to date on Sunday afternoon, as attendees gathered in Endecott House for a joyful afternoon of group singing. Led by WAF favourite George Cook, the workshop offered people of any musical background the opportunity to join together in song with like-minded enthusiasts. Participants learned a selection of Scoottish songs with George, in preparation for their performance on-stage as part of Concert 7 that same evening (see below)…

WAF 2025’s finale concert in Chagford Church saw all our resident artists come together for a celebration of Scotland’s beautiful musical heritage co-curated by award-winning Scottish tenor Matthew McKinney with Freddie Crowley, our very own Festival Director.

Scottish folksongs featured prominently — some performed by Matthew, and others by Corvus Consort, including choral arrangements by Scottish composers James MacMillan and Gemma McGregor. Pianist Harry Baker and the Festival String Quartet performed instrumental items inspired by traditional Scottish music, and Corvus also gave the world premiere of O Joy, the showstopper choral piece composed specially for this concert by Composer-in-Residence Ben Nobuto.

Before the interval came a very special performance from our Come&Sing choir, who took to the stage alongside pianist Harry Baker, Corvus Consort and the Festival String Quartet to perform a lovely selection of Scottish songs, learned during their afternoon Come&Sing workshop (see above).

The concert finished with Corvus Consort, Harry Baker and the Festival String Quartet all coming together under the direction of Freddie Crowley to perform the beautifully moving Follow the Heron by Karine Polwart, a song which was such a hit at WAF 2024 that we had to do it again in 2025! For an encore the whole audience got to their feet and joined with the performers in a fabulous rendition of Auld Lang Syne, led by Matthew McKinney.

A selection of rehearsal shots and other bonus images from our 2025 festival…