Båstad Kammarmusikfestival 2026 (Bastad Chamber Music Festival 2026)

Båstad Chamber Music Festival 2026 – Seaways The sea has always been our connection to the rest of the world. A motorway, but by boat. Through the centuries, seaways have carried people, ideas and sounds between coasts and cultures. This summer we follow the shipping lanes from the Nordic countries via the British Isles, across the Atlantic and on towards the Baltics, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The composer-in-residence for this year’s festival is the internationally renowned British composer Sally Beamish, who turns 70 in 2026. The festival presents chamber music written by Beamish including a fanfare for lute, and a premiere, Litany, written especially for the Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen.We also pay tribute to Benjamin Britten, 50 years after his death, and delve into the English music tradition with, among others, music by Vaughan Williams and Amy Beach. We continue to explore the theme of the sea through the music of Debussy, Ravel, Sibelius, Mahler, and Chopin, as well as in Bartók's restless journey between tradition and modernity. Furthermore we are excited to present a meeting between traditional gut strings and contemporary electronic soundscapes in a neo-baroque fantasia by Ensemble Odd Size, in addition to a rousing programme of 17th Century ale-house music, the Alehouse Sessions, which includes overtures by Purcell, English sea shanties and Scandinavian folk songs.In collaboration with Lund University we have master classes in strings and composition. With a family concert, talented young musicians, internationally established stars and three prominent pianists, we shall cast off into the fray and let the music lead the way.