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The Surrey Bach Festival is a brand-new classical music festival, held over four days in July at St Mary’s Church, Stoke D’Abernon.

Tickets

• What’s On
• Tickets

Visit our What’s On page to find our more about our concerts and events. Tickets can all be purchased in advance at Ticketsource, or with more limited availability on the door. Book ahead to avoid disappointment, as our events may sell out!

Travel

Getting to St Mary’s is comfortable, with many travel options available.By train:
Cobham and Stoke D’Abernon is the closest train station to St Mary’s, situated on the line between Guildford and London Waterloo. Trains run every half an hour, and the church is a 15 minute walk from the station with taxis also available.By car:
There is plenty of parking available at the church, which is situated in the grounds of Parkside School. We are situated on Stoke Road, just to the east of the centre of Stoke D’Abernon, directly opposite Squires Garden Centre.

St Mary’s Church at Stoke D’Abernon

St Mary’s Church is a fascinating patchwork building that tells the story of centuries of British history. We’re thrilled to be able to celebrate some beautiful early music in its historical walls!The church was originally built in the 7th century by Anglo-Saxons. Many churches like this were built in the area after the Gregorian mission from Rome introduced Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons in the late 6th century.Countless people from different cultures, countries and time periods have left their mark on St Mary’s Church in the centuries it’s stood in Stoke D’Abernon. Look out for these little quirks and treasures when you visit — each of them tells a story.Architecture
- Bricks, tiles and worked stones from Roman buildings that were reused to build the Anglo-Saxon church. These can be easily seen among the large field flints of the exterior walls of the church.
- The high-level doorway to the thegn’s gallery, visible in the south wall of the church. St Mary's Church was built on private land by a feudal lord and is the earliest English example of a church with a thegn’s gallery.
- The present square-ended chancel, which replaced the rounded Saxon apse in 1240. The axis of the chancel was likely aligned to the sunrise.
- A surviving section of a gorgeous 13th century mural painting of the Adoration of the Lamb on the east wall.Objects
- An 16 rank organ designed and voiced for the church in 1975 by the legendary Frobenius of Copenhagen.
- A stone Roman cinerary coffret from the 2nd century AD — the oldest artefact in the church.
- A 17th century heptagonal walnut pulpit supported by seven part-animal, part-human caryatids. The words “Faith comes from what is heard” (Romans 10:17) are gilded into a column so they can only be read by the priest.
- The monumental brass of Sir John the Elder — one of the finest brasses in existence.You can read an even more in-depth description of St Mary’s Church and its historical characteristics on the church website.

Things to do in the area

St Mary’s Church is in a great location for nature fans. We’ve listed eight popular nearby walks with travel times, facilities, accessibility, and other important information.We also recommend Surrey Walks - a wonderful blog dedicated to sharing the best routes and trails for exploring Surrey on foot.

BACH: Motets

The Queenes Chappell

Artist Biography

THE QUEENES CHAPPELL

The Queenes Chappell is a young, versatile vocal consort committed to the performance of 16th, 17th and 18th century repertoire in a bold, vivid, and historically informed style. Founded in 2022 by Artistic Director Matthew Brown, the group has presented concerts across London and beyond, and is fast establishing itself as a fresh and exciting interpreter of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire.The group is now resident at St Mary’s Church, Stoke d’Abernon, a historic church with a long and rich history of historical performance. Previously, The Queenes Chappell were engaged as Artists-in-Residence at St Mary-le-Strand in central London, and have appeared in the Italian Sounds in London and Baroquestock festivals.Its members are drawn from London’s best solo and consort singers, who sing with other premiere ensembles such as the Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort, Tenebrae, and The Sixteen.

VENUS AND ADONIS

Istante Collective, The Queenes Chappell; Ana Beard Fernandez, Jack Holton, Mariana Rodrigues, cond. Matthew Brown

Artist Biography

ISTANTE COLLECTIVE

Istante is a versatile musical collective committed to reaching out to new audiences through innovative concert experiences. Istante’s performances, often held in an informal setting, aim to inspire the listener by linking repertoire through historical and narrative threads.Individually, Istante’s members perform with prestigious orchestras and ensembles including Royal Opera House Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, La Scala orchestra, English Baroque Soloists/Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, King’s Consort. By combining their diverse experience, they are able to offer a unique breadth of repertoire, both in terms of style and historical period.Istante has performed in a range of venues in the UK and abroad, including the St Stephen's Festival of the Arts in London, the Newbury Festival and Classica Aurora series in Arezzo (Italy), and was selected for the 2017-2018 BREMF Live! Scheme. The ensemble counts a number of collaborations with Opera Vera, performing original arrangements of La Boheme, Gianni Schicchi, and Mozart’s da Ponte trilogy.Istante is ensemble in residence at Baroquestock Festival, featuring a unique fusion of historical performance, folk music, community projects and home-cooked food. Baroquestock highlights include a fully staged production of J.Haydn’s rarely-heard opera “Lo Speziale”. The ensemble also play various concerts throughout the year, often as part of the church's lunchtime concert series.Istante’s debut album, ‘Little things in Odd Shapes’, featuring chamber music for mixed string/wind ensemble by Boccherini and M. Haydn, was released by Novantiqua Records in 2018.

Bach and his Influences

STEVEN DEVINE, harpsichord

Artist Biography

STEVEN DEVINE

Steven Devine combines a career as a conductor and director of orchestral, choral and opera repertoire with that of a solo harpsichordist and fortepianist. He is the Conductor and Artistic Advisor of The English Haydn Festival; Music Director of New Chamber Opera, Oxford and Director of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s “Bach the Universe & Everything” series.On the concert platform, he has directed Purcell, Blow, Bach, Handel and Mozart with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Bach Easter Oratorio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Haydn, Handel, CPE Bach, JC Bach, Ditterdorf and Viotti with the English Haydn Orchestra; Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora Trondheim Barokk, Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble; Handel Solomon as well as JS and CPE Bach programmes with Victoria Baroque Players, British Columbia, Handel Belshazzar at the Valetta Festival and Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks with Arion Baroque Ensemble, Montreal.He has also directed programmes with the Academy of Ancient Music, Academie d’Ambronay, the Mozart Festival Orchestra and St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra.

Bach at the Collegium

Surrey Bach Festival Orchestra, conductor Steven Devine

Artist Biography

STEVEN DEVINE, conductor

Steven Devine combines a career as a conductor and director of orchestral, choral and opera repertoire with that of a solo harpsichordist and fortepianist. He is the Conductor and Artistic Advisor of The English Haydn Festival; Music Director of New Chamber Opera, Oxford and Director of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s “Bach the Universe & Everything” series.On the concert platform, he has directed Purcell, Blow, Bach, Handel and Mozart with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Bach Easter Oratorio with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Haydn, Handel, CPE Bach, JC Bach, Ditterdorf and Viotti with the English Haydn Orchestra; Handel, Vivaldi and Porpora Trondheim Barokk, Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble; Handel Solomon as well as JS and CPE Bach programmes with Victoria Baroque Players, British Columbia, Handel Belshazzar at the Valetta Festival and Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks with Arion Baroque Ensemble, Montreal.He has also directed programmes with the Academy of Ancient Music, Academie d’Ambronay, the Mozart Festival Orchestra and St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra.