March 16, 2026
click to go back
PAW Festival 2026 Concert & Event Tickets Now Live!
We’re delighted to share that tickets are now live for this year’s Concerts and Other Events programme. Our 2026 programme promises a rich and inspiring mix of concerts, talks, workshops and creative experiences, and we hope you’ll join us for what will be another memorable celebration of art and culture across Purbeck. You can explore the full programme below and book tickets here.
23 May, 6pm – Opening Night Concert: I Fagiolini Anniversary Concert – ‘We’re not Dead Yet’
An unforgettable opening evening on 23 May, where I Fagiolini return to PAW to bring their signature blend of creativity and imagination to the stage. They will be performing an anniversary programme for their 40th year: ‘We’re not dead yet’. Expect exquisite vocal artistry from one of Britain’s most creative ensembles, an atmosphere-rich programming that sits beautifully with the visual and artistic spirit of Purbeck.
24 May, 6pm – Concert 2: Parnassus Ensemble with artist Jérémie Queyras – 3in1: A Triadic Reflection
We’re delighted to be hosting this unique collaboration between Parnassus – an early music ensemble of leading musicians from across Europe, including members from Ayres Extemporae who gave us such a wonderful concert at Church Knowle for last year’s festival – and the visual artist Jérémie Queyras who is building a global reputation for his work, in particular his live paintings to music performance.
26 May, 7pm – Talk: Dr Gill Clarke, Guest Curator Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth – Creative Relationships: Artists in Purbeck 1900-1950
Curator and art historian Gill Clarke will talk about leading artists who were resident or visiting Purbeck between 1900-1950, giving us a fascinating insight into the area’s rich artistic heritage.
27 May, 10.30-11.30am – Children’s Workshop (aged 4 – 8 yrs): Nick Jubber – Adventures with Flying Beasties
In this interactive event, author Nicholas Jubber will guide the children through tales of flying beasties – and together we’ll create our own new ones. This should be a great opportunity for kids to express their wild imaginations and learn a little about how to channel them into storytelling.
Friday 29 May, 7pm – Concert 3: Grace Newcombe with Liane Sadler & Colin Heller – CHALK: Songs for the South West
In collaboration with Sandy Hill Arts, this concert presents CHALK: a programme of songs relating to the South West, combining traditional material with medieval instrumental textures and new arrangements, performed in a special Purbeck setting.
Saturday 30 May, 11am-1pm – workshop: Grace Newcombe with Liane Sadler & Colin Heller – Medieval Vocal Workshop
Following Friday’s fusion of folk and medieval sound worlds, and ahead of her recital of medieval song, Grace Newcombe invites singers to step inside the soundscape themselves. This immersive workshop explores the luminous textures of 15th-century polyphony alongside 13th-century Middle English song. Open to confident singers and the curious alike, it’s a rare chance to experience medieval repertoire with one of today’s leading specialists.
Saturday 30 May, 2pm – Concert 4: Lizzie Ball & Miloš Milivojević – A Musical Portrait of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky’s relationship and creative lives were shaped by early 20th-century Paris’s vibrant artistic scene. Lizzie presents a concert exploring this intersection of music and fashion. With internationally acclaimed accordionist Miloš Milivojević – returning to Purbeck following his captivating appearance at the Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival – she will perform pieces including arrangements by the composer himself of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Suite Italienne, while highlighting the influence of Chanel, Stravinsky, and their contemporaries.
Saturday 30 May, 6pm – Concert 5: Fieri Consort – Freeing the Muse
We’re delighted to welcome Fieri back for an evening of exquisite music – and especially excited that our own Music Director, Hannah Ely, will be performing as part of the ensemble. Exploring Renaissance ideas of female beauty as shaped by women themselves, this programme brings together music by female composers Casulana, Aleotti and Caccini, with works by Luzzaschi, de Wert and de Rore, forged in close dialogue with exceptional female singers, whose virtuosity transformed the sound of late 16th-century Italy.
Saturday 30 May, 8:30pm – Concert 6: Toby Carr, solo lute – Softest Thunder (Album launch)
We’re delighted to welcome back Gramophone Award winner and PAW favourite Toby Carr for a special evening that also marks the launch of his new album, Softest Thunder. This intimate and atmospheric concert brings together music spanning centuries, united by a shared sense of soft-edged, delicate yet resonant beauty. Lutenist-composers John Dowland and Robert Johnson represent the zenith of the English Renaissance, interwoven with transcriptions of Erik Satie’s dreamlike dances and Blue, a new commission by Laura Snowden written especially for this project.
Sunday 31 May, 3pm – Concert 7: Grace Newcombe & Elizabeth Sommers – Alysoun: Songs from the people of thirteenth-century Britain
A wonderful concert to end our Festival Weekend, Grace Newcombe (voice and harp) will be joined by Elizabeth Sommers (fiddles) for this medieval programme in this beautiful medieval church.
In high-medieval Britain, one of the more pleasant means of saving souls was through the favourite music and poetry of the People. Popular songs from different walks of life were imitated, translated, or repurposed to fit a new religious narrative or to conceal a secular one, wilfully blurring the borders between earthly and devotional love. Leaf through their surviving collections and hear songs about nature, death, the courting of Mary, and Christ the Lover-Knight.
Friday 5 June, 6pm – Concert 8: Jeremy Avis, Sam Stadlen, Rebecca Askew, Suntou Susso, Simo Lagnawi and Timothy Dickinson with the Purbeck Arts Choir and students from Stoborough and Swanage Primary Schools – The Whispering Dome
The Whispering Dome is an award-winning concert-adventure that follows a single nightingale on her epic migration from the UK to The Gambia. Blending early and contemporary music with immersive multimedia projections, the performance imagines the human music rising from the lands she flies over – from medieval Europe to North Africa and West Africa. Five exceptional performers draw on European early music, Moroccan Gnawa Sufi traditions and West African Griot song, weaving ancient love songs, pilgrims’ tales, bird songs and new choral works into a rich, border-crossing sound world. We’re delighted to have received Dorset Council funding to support this event.
Saturday 6 June, 6.00pm – Concert 9: Guy Cutting, Sophia Prodanova, Olwen Foulkes & Nathaniel Mander – Waft her, angels, through the skies: Handel arias with Guy Cutting
Internationally renowned tenor Guy Cutting presents a journey through the dramatic and emotional world of Handel, with highlights from operas and oratorios including Acis and Galatea, Jeptha, Alexander’s Feast, Joshua and Theodora. Joined by a trio of outstanding specialists on period instrumentalists – Olwen Foulkes, Sophia Prodanova and Nathaniel Mander – this intimate programme explores the full expressive range of Handel’s music.