The first shows of the 2026 Norfolk and Norwich Festival have been announced, with tickets going on public sale tomorrow.
One of the oldest arts festivals in England, the NNF has run since 1772 and will return in 2026 for for 17 days from 8 May to 24 May.
Performing at the Festival for the first time in a decade are Australian circus company Circa, who will bring their brand-new show Wolf to the Chapelfield Gardens-based Spiegeltent between 13 and 24 May.
Organist James McVinnie will be a resident artist at the Festvial. His first announced performance will be Infinity Gradient, a collaboration with American composer Tristan Peric, that is scored for solo organ and 100 speakers in 1bit audio, and will be performed on Saturday 9 May at Norwich Cathedral.
A new collaboration with Norwich Jazz Festival includes two early release shows: on Friday 15 May Balimaya Project will bring a cultural fusion of genres from London, Africa, and the Caribbean to the Spiegeltent; and on Saturday 23 May Manchester trio GoGo Penguin will perform from their new album Necessary Fictions at Epic Studios.
The Cowboy Junkies return to the UK and present a concert spanning 40 years of music-making at St Andrew’s Hall on Thursday 14 May. Britten Sinfonia will also play the Hall, with a concert that commemorates 50 years since Benjamin Britten’s death on Wednesday 20 May. The programme will focus on the years Britten spent in America during World War II. Sensuous music with a bright sheen, written in Canada and the USA, is paired with music by his ‘very dear friend’ and mentor Aaron Copland.
International opera star Roderick Williams will join the Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus on Saturday 23 May at St Andrew’s Hall for double bill of music by William Walton: Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario, music from the 1944 Laurence Olivier film interlaced with extracts from the play, and choral work Belshazzar’s Feast.
On the festival’s closing day, Sunday 24 May at Norwich Theatre Royal, musical collective Scottish Ensemble present Impulse: Music in Motion. Developed in partnership with choreographer Orjan Andersson, this memorised production uses physical movement and expressive gestures to bring new insights to Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.
- Full details and booking information is available on the Norfolk & Norwich Festival website. The full festival programme will be released in the new year.
