Listen to the world. Hear something new.
For 2026–27, the International Concert Series at Royal Holloway explores The Sounding World, a season curated by Dr Nathan James Dearden that asks how we listen, respond, and belong to the environments we share.
Music does not exist in isolation. It comes from somewhere: a landscape, a city, a home, a community, a memory. It carries the sounds of the places we know and the stories of people whose voices we may never otherwise hear.
Across the season, our international artists explore the many ways music connects us to the world around us. From the musical landscape of Rio's favelas to the English countryside, from imagined worlds to the intimate spaces of the home, these events consider how place shapes musical imagination, who gets to be heard, and how listening itself can become an act of connection.
Sounds of place
This season takes us on journeys through landscapes both real and imagined. Brazilian violinist Nathan Amaral brings music shaped by his upbringing in Rio de Janeiro, while Catrin Finch presents her new album Notes to Self, reflecting on personal memory, place and identity. Helen Charlston and Sholto Kynoch explore Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, where landscape becomes both setting and mirror for an intensely personal journey.
The Fidelio Trio brings together new music by Nathan James Dearden and Kaija Saariaho in a programme that responds directly to our changing environments, while internationally acclaimed organist Roger Sayer, a longtime collaborator with Hans Zimmer, transforms the Royal Holloway Chapel into a cinematic soundscape with music from Interstellar alongside arrangements of Holst's The Planets.
Who gets to be heard?
Listening can be an artistic act, but it can also be a social and political one. This season brings together music that asks whose voices are heard, whose stories are remembered, and how our musical landscapes are shaped by the people and communities around us.
In Constanze Mozart: “I want to tell you what really happened…”, actress Jane Asher, soprano Fflur Wyn and pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen bring Constanze Mozart's voice to life through letters, diaries and the glorious music of Mozart. Compiled by Tim Coates, this extraordinary evening offers a new perspective on one of music history's most familiar stories, allowing Constanze to tell her own.
Our continuing partnership with the Young Classical Artists Trust introduces two remarkable emerging artists, oboist Ewan Miller and violinist Nathan Amaral, while clarinettist Mebrakh Haughton-Johnson and pianist Viktor Erik Emanuel bring together music by James Lee III, Gershwin, Brahms, Jessie Montgomery and Debussy.
We are also delighted to welcome back ISQ, the contemporary music project of vocalist and songwriter Irene Serra, whose distinctive sound sits between jazz, alternative pop and atmospheric experimentation.
New sounds, new voices
The season celebrates the possibilities that emerge when artists, composers and communities listen to one another. A new partnership with EMPOWER Women Changing Music brings an immersive concert experience featuring new commissions and works by women composers, including Emily Pedersen, Francesca Le Lohe, Samantha Fernando, Judith Weir and Pernille Faye.
The London Mozart Players return for another side-by-side collaboration with the Royal Holloway Chamber Orchestra, bringing professional and student musicians together on the same stage.
A musical home
At the heart of The Sounding World is the idea that music can connect us to one another and to the places we call home. This season we celebrate the remarkable musical community at Royal Holloway, while welcoming artists from across the world to our campus.
As we mark the life and legacy of Dame Felicity Lott, we also turn to our own history, bringing together some of Royal Holloway's most illustrious operatic alumni for a special celebration of one of the University's most distinguished musical traditions.
Reflecting Royal Holloway's commitment as a University of Social Purpose, the 2026–27 International Concert Series invites us not simply to hear great music, but to listen more closely to the world around us.
Come and listen differently.
What's on
To discover the full season, find out more about our artists and book your tickets, please visit our events listing (link embedded)
Helen Charlston and Sholto Kynoch perform Schubert's 'Die schöne Müllerin' / 21 January 2027
