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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

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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.

artist biography

Bellot Ensemble is a vibrant period instrument group celebrated for energetic performances and a distinctive approach to 17th-century repertoire. Rooted in historical performance practice, the ensemble blends detailed research with spontaneity, particularly through written divisions and the expressive interpretation of early texts. Their work often brings together instrumental and vocal forces, with regular collaborations involving consorts, choirs, and opera companies.From October 2025, the group began a two-year term as the New Generation Baroque Ensemble, a prestigious development scheme led by BBC Radio 3, The Royal College of Music, and the National Centre for Early Music. The programme supports emerging UK-based Baroque groups through expert coaching, recording and broadcast opportunities, and a regular performance platform.Bellot Ensemble has also been selected for the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme 2025-26, where they will take part in the Chamber Music Residency at Snape Maltings supported by the Keith Coventry Bursary.The ensemble is especially grateful for the continued support of the Continuo Foundation, whose grants have supported national touring and the release of their debut album Cupid’s Ground Bass, released in November 2025, featuring 17th-century love arias with soloists Lucine Musaelian and Kieran White, along with newly composed instrumental divisions. A companion video project, filmed at the VOCES8 Centre with director Thomas Guthrie and videographer Bobby Williams, accompanies the album.They were part of the Brighton Early Music Festival Live Scheme 2023-24, and maintain close ties with choral and opera groups across the UK. In 2024 they toured John Frederick Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley with New Sussex Opera conducted by Toby Purser, and appeared as Featured Artists at the Overstrand Early Music Festival in a semi-staged Dido and Aeneas with Norwich Baroque. They are also recipients of the Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artist Award for 2024-25.Upcoming highlights include performances at the Oxford Festival of the Arts, new appearances through the NGBE scheme, and a residency in 2026 with Les Arts Florissants’ Odyssée programme.

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