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The Surrey Bach Festival is a classical music festival, focusing mostly on the music of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries, held over a week 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.

artist biography

Intesa is a duo for voice and viol formed by Lucine Musaelian and Nathan Giorgetti, dedicated to exploring the rich relationship between voice and viol through self-accompanied performance. They are 2025 City Music Foundation Artists, and with the Foundation’s support have recently recorded their debut album, engineered and produced by Jared Sacks and to be released on the Pelle d’Oca label in 2026.Recent highlights include appearances at the Resonanzen Festival in Vienna in both 2025 and January 2026, returning to a full house at the Wiener Konzerthaus’s Mozart-Saal. International engagements have also taken them to the Utrecht Fabulous Fringe Festival, the ECOS Festival in Spain, and the Munich Residenzwoche in Germany. In the United States, the duo made their New York debut at the Harold Pratt House and in the Gotham Early Music Scene Midtown Concerts series.In the UK, Intesa performs regularly and has appeared in the Leeds International Concert Season, the Stoke Newington Early Music Festival, the Islington Arts Festival, and the Two Moors Festival, as well as on a Scotland tour supported by the Tunnell Trust. They have also given several sold-out concerts at Handel Hendrix House and Fidelio Café in London, and held a residency at the National Centre for Early Music as part of the York Early Music Christmas Festival and the Baroque Around the Books series.Upcoming engagements include a recital at St Martin-in-the-Fields, appearances at the Beverley Festival of Early Music and the Swaledale Festival, and a concert at the Utrecht Early Music Festival in summer 2026.Intesa was formed in 2023 at the Royal Academy of Music. The ensemble’s name, an Italian word meaning “understanding” or “meeting of minds”, reflects the collaborative ethos at the heart of their work. Their programmes place folk and early music repertoire side by side, bringing together European and Armenian traditions through narrative and self-accompanied performance.

artist biography

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 Voces8, Monteverdi Choir, Gabrieli Consort, Tenebrae, and The Sixteen.Photographs © Matthew Brown, Olivia Petryszak.

1300 Years and Counting

A guided tour of St Mary’s Church, Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey’s oldest church which dates from the 7th century. Features include reused Roman materials laid in characteristic Saxon style, 13th century wall paintings, internationally renowned 14th century brasses, a 16th century chantry chapel containing Vincent family monuments, a fine Jacobean pulpit and an important collection of 15th and 16th century stained glass.

The Double Knight, the Unfinished Monument and the Dispossessed Baronet

This talk explores the lives of some of the people associated with, and commemorated in, St Mary’s Church from the reign of Elizabeth I to the Civil Wars in the mid-seventeenth century. It focuses on the specific questions of why one lord of the manor was knighted twice, why one of the most prominent monuments appears incomplete and why a Devonshire baronet is buried in the chancel a long way from his home.

programme

artist biography

Matthew Brown - conductor

British harpsichordist, early organist, and director Matthew Brown is in demand as a continuo player, recitalist, repetiteur, vocal coach and conductor across London and beyond. Matthew has studied under various leading harpsichordists and directors such as Carole Cerasi, James Johnstone, Colin Booth, Steven Devine, Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, and Eamonn Dougan.In concert, Matthew has collaborated with groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, Philharmonia, Genesis Sixteen, and Istante Collective, performing orchestral and chamber repertoire across London and beyond. He has been a member of young artist programmes with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Young Associate Scheme), Cambridge Handel Opera Company (Talent Development Programme), and Brighton Early Music Festival Young Artists Scheme. He works frequently with Bellot Ensemble, a young chamber ensemble who are building a profile as interpreters of 17th century repertoire, who recently recorded a debut album, Cupid’s Ground Bass. He also collaborates with recorder player Olivia Petryszak in their duo fora, working recently on a series of video recordings.Fostering a special interest in vocal repertoire and opera, Matthew frequently works as a vocal coach, repetiteur and opera continuo player, for companies such as Cambridge Handel Opera Company, Ryedale Festival Opera, Istante Opera, Hampstead Garden Opera, and Guildhall Opera, covering a variety of Baroque opera repertoire from Monteverdi to Handel. He is in demand and gaining several regular clients as a vocal coach and accompanist, recently delivering a masterclass on baroque singing at the University of Manchester alongside Hilary Cronin. In January 2022, Matthew founded The Queenes Chappell, a historically informed solo-voice consort of which he is Artistic Director, who give acclaimed concerts across London and the UK.As a solo harpsichordist, Matthew has received acclaim for his sensitive and engaging playing. In 2023, Matthew was the First Prize winner at the Lewis Memorial Prize competition, held at the Royal Academy of Music, with a concert of keyboard works from Musica Britannica editions. Recital projects have included mr w birde of the chapell, a programme of English virginal music focused on William Byrd which he toured in the UK and Canada, and bach alla francese, a programme celebrating Bach's connections with keyboard composers from 17th century France.Beginning in July 2024, Matthew has founded and served as Artistic Director of the Surrey Bach Festival. In its inaugural year at St Mary's Stoke d'Abernon, the festival presented three headline evening concerts and two lunchtime concerts, and is in the planning stages for the 2025 festival. Matthew serves as Organist and Director of Music at St Mary’s Stoke D’Abernon, where he presides over the specialist baroque organ built by Danish company Frobenius in 1975, and a flourishing music department which focuses on Renaissance and Baroque liturgical repertoire.Photographs: Ben Reason, 2025.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to unfortunate illnesses in two of our original cast members, we are very grateful to Bethany Horak-Hallett and Jonathan Eyers for stepping in to the roles of Galatea and Polifemo at very short notice.This change means that we will now be presenting this opera as a concert performance.

artist biography

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.Photographs © John-Henry Baker, Baroquestock.

artist biography

Eamonn Dougan is an inspirational communicator with a wide-ranging repertoire and is a renowned vocal coach and baritone. “It was the first of many occasions when conductor Eamonn Dougan would demonstrate a remarkable knack for finding the perfect balance between allowing the emotion time to speak while keeping everything moving” (Bachtrack - MacMillan Seven Last Words); Eamonn is Associate Conductor of The Sixteen, founding Director of Britten Sinfonia Voices, Music Director of the Thomas Tallis Society, and Chief Conductor for Jersey Chamber Orchestra.Alongside Eamonn’s regular conducting, upcoming projects include returns to conduct MacMillan’s All the Hills and Vales Along for the Cumnock Tryst’s tenth anniversary Birthday Gala Concert, a return to Chamber Choir Ireland in addition to his directorship of CCI’s training programme ‘CCI Studio’, Ars Nova Copenhagen, continuing his series with Jersey Chamber Orchestra (where concert guests have included Nicola Benedetti, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Lawrence Power, Natalie Clein, Alison Balsom, Elizabeth Watts, Sophie Bevan, Lawrence Zazzo, Victoria Simmonds and Kate Royal) and recording with De Profundis on Hyperion for the 4th Morales disc in the series. Eamonn also heads to London, Krakow & Warsaw to tour his beautiful Polish Baroque programme, taken from his highly commended series (recorded on CORO) of Italian maestri at the Polish Court of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Eamonn will also lead a new programme for ‘The Song Company’ on its May/June ’25 Australian tour.In addition, Eamonn made his debut conducting Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus in Handel Messiah at Royal Festival Hall in December, and he makes his debut conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the start of season 25-26.Recent highlights have included earning a distinguished Diapason d’Or for the first disc in a 12-album series of Morales’ complete Masses and Magnificats with De Profundis on Hyperion - “We can feel confident that the future of this bold project is in the best possible hands.” (Gramophone); advising on and directing performances for the Royal Academy of Music’s Bach the European series; debuts with English National Opera for Haydn Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross “This was a triumph. Dougan clearly loves the work and brought a real sense of style to the orchestra while finding lightness from the large chorus” (Seen and Heard), with Chorwerk Ruhr in a programme celebrating the 400th anniversary of Byrd, a Christmas tour with Ars Nova; Handel Messiah in two performances at Auditorio Nacional de Madrid with Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla and Chamber Choir Ireland; Handel Semele at Sibelius Summer Academy and Handel Acis and Galatea for Ryedale Festival Opera, for which he was invited back to conduct thesubsequent production of Venus & Adonis and Eamonn returned to conduct the Cumnock Tryst Festival Chorus in the world premiere of Phillip Cooke’s Gloria (commissioned especially for the Tryst).Notable successes have included the world premiere of James MacMillan All the Hills and Vales Along at the Cumnock Tryst Festival with Ian Bostridge, conducting the off-stage chorus for Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ with The Hallé, Britten Sinfonia Voices and Genesis Sixteen for BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. He assisted Sir Mark Elder for Opera Rara’s world premiere concert and recording of Puccini Le Villi with London Philharmonic Orchestra and their recent recording Zingari. Eamonn directed The Sixteen’s highly acclaimed tour of Australia and Singapore, Messiah with Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León and Cappella Amsterdam, made his Spanish debut with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa and Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, and in Paris at the La Seine Musicale with renowned ensemble Accentus and in Copenhagen with Danish National Symphony Orchestra, VokalEnsemblet and KoncertKor. Eamonn directed De Profundis on their Hyperion release Juan Esquivel’s Missa Hortus Conclusus to critical acclaim: “passionate singing to create an extremely enjoyable and atmospheric recording." (Gramophone)Photographs © Benjamin Harte.

artist biography

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.Photographs © Ian Davies.