Biennial Baroque 2025
The Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music is a key event in the calendar of all those with an interest in this area. It facilitates the sharing of the latest research on and/or relevant to music of the period c. 1600-1750, and provides abundant networking opportunities.
Conference schedule and booking information
The conference will run from Wednesday 16 July to Sunday 20 July 2025 at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), Birmingham, UK. Please note that booking will comprise two stages:
- Registration for the conference (in full, or individual days), banquet and optional Sunday lunch: see here for booking.
- Completion of a separate form to provide information about such things as dietary requirements, your banquet menu choices, concert attendance and so on: a link will be sent with your booking confirmation. It is essential that you complete this. You can also complete the form here. Thank you!
Everything you need to inform your booking is below!
Please note:
- Early Bird rates on registration for the full conference are available up to the end of 31 May (UK time).
- In the case of bookings made at the student rate where we don’t already have proof of student status, we will be in touch for verification once we have received your booking.
Refunds:
- 100% refund if cancelled before or on 31 May.
- 50% refund if cancelled before or on 30 June.
- No refunds from 1 July
Wednesday 16 July
Registration will be open from 13:00.
16:00-17:30 – Welcome Workshop: Come and join a rehearsal and informal performance of extracts from Ignazio Donati’s Salmi Boscarecci (Venice, 1623), following Donati’s flexible scoring instructions for creating multiple choirs of voices and instruments. All voices/instruments welcome, performing at A=440. With the RBC Ex Cathedra Scholars, led by Jamie Savan.
17:30-19:15 – Informal performance followed by Welcome Reception
Thursday 17 July to Sunday 20 July
Schedules for each day can be found here:
Biennial Baroque Schedule Thu 17 July
Biennial Baroque Schedule Fri 18 July
Biennial Baroque Schedule Sat 19 July
Biennial Baroque Schedule Sun 20 July
Concerts and other activities
Thursday 17 July
We have scheduled three recitals on RBC’s new organs, mindful of the limited audience capacity in our Organ Studio. (For timings, please see the schedule for the day.)
Two will be on our Schnitger organ (by Flentrop Orgelbouw) and between them feature music by Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Muffat, Bruhns and J.S. Bach; the third will be on our ‘Lady of Clare’ organ (English/Italian early baroque organ by William Drake Ltd), including music by Byrd, Pellegrini and Frescobaldi. Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend one of these, and will we assign you a ticket.
‘Listening to Historic Coventry’ will be a live performance linked with the RBC-led, AHRC-funded project, ‘Aural Histories: Coventry, c.1451-1642’. It will involve a collaboration between the research team, RBC Ex Cathedra Scholars and members of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, and be set within the digitally reconstructed acoustics of St Michael’s (1617) and Holy Trinity (1640) churches. Repertoire will include the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis from Gibbons’ Short Service and Byrd’s Sing Joyfully. We have scheduled this twice, mindful of the capacity of RBC’s Experimental Performance Lab (for timings, please see the schedule for the day). Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend one of these performances, and will we assign you a ticket.
Reception for Research Students. This event will provide the opportunity for those currently undertaking PhDs, and those within a year of completion, get to know each other, or to renew existing acquaintance. Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend.
Friday 18 July
18:00-19:15 Concert, St Paul’s Church, Hockley, Birmingham
Language of the Baroque
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Ex Cathedra Scholars Ensemble, directed by Jeffrey Skidmore, with Elizabeth Kenny (theorbo) and Martin Perkins (organ).
A captivating selection of vocal ensemble music from across Europe and South America in the attractive setting of one of the city’s historic churches.
Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend.
Saturday 19 July
13:15-14:15 Concert, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall
Domestic Handel
Penelope Appleyard (soprano), Miki Takahashi (violin), Imogen Seth-Smith (cello), Annabel Knight (flute and recorder), Robin Bigwood (harpsichord)
International soprano soloist and RBC alumna and honorary member, Penelope Appleyard is joined by RBC Historical Performance specialist tutors in a programme of music by Handel, to include selections from Nine German Arias, trio sonatas and solo sonatas.
Supported by The Handel Institute.
Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend.
19:00- Conference Banquet, Clayton Hotel [see menu choices below]
Sunday 20 July
12:15-13:15 Concert, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Recital Hall
Fiddlers Three: Music from Charles II's ‘Private Musick’
Musical & Amicable Society: Kate Fawcett, Catherine Martin, Anna Palmer (violins), Jonathan Rees (bass viol and bass violin), Lynda Sayce (theorbo and guitar), Aileen Henry (triple harp), Martin Perkins (harpsichord and organ)
Virtuosic music for three violins and continuo by Thomas Baltzar, Gottfried Finger, John Jenkins, Davis Mell, and Henry Purcell.
Supported by Continuo Foundation
Please indicate when booking if you would like to attend.
Lunch on Sunday after the close of the conference will be optional: you will be able to sign up when booking if you wish to take advantage of this.
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Banquet Menu
Menu choices, which you will need to select when booking, are as follows (dietary information below):
Starter:
Butter bean and thyme roasted onion soup VE, GF
OR
Tiger prawn, avocado and lemon crème fraiche, crispy potato cake, baby dressed leaves GF, 1-prawn, 7, 13
Main Course:
Masala roast chicken breast, fried courgette, apricot and cumin new potatoes, mint and sweet green chilli dressing GF, 9
OR
Vegetable Wellington, green beans and spinach with roasted shallot gravy VE, 6- wheat/ barley, 8, 12
Dessert:
Glazed Lemon Tart and Blackcurrant Sorbet – VE, GF, 5-Almond
Honeycomb cheesecake with raspberries and chocolate sauce
V, 4-peanuts, 5-almonds/hazelnut/pecan/pistachio/walnut, 6-wheat/barley/rye/oat, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Fresh fruit salad, blueberry compote, orange sorbet VE, GF
Key to dietary information:
(V) Vegetarian (VE) Vegan (GF) Gluten Free
Allergen Index: No. 1 Crustaceans, No. 4 Peanuts, No. 5 Nuts - Almond, Brazil, Cashew, Hazelnut, Macadamia, Pecan, Pistachio, Walnut, No. 6 Cereals containing gluten - Wheat, Rye, Barley, Oats, No. 7 Milk, No. 8 Soya, No. 9 Sulphur dioxide, No. 10 Sesame seeds, No. 11 Egg No. 12 Celery and celeriac, No. 13 Mustard
Conference Support
Delegates seeking financial support to attend this year’s ICBM may wish to explore their eligibility for the following potential sources of help:
Music & Letters Trust (deadline 15 May)
The Handel Institute (deadline 30 April)
European PhD students and postdoctoral fellows who are presenting papers may wish to explore the ‘Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) Conference Grants’ programme (administered by EarlyMuse); for more information, see here for call for applications (deadline 15 May):
The Septenary Foundation has two travel and accommodation bursaries available for those presenting at the 2025 ICBM. If you are interested in applying, please download the application form from the website below and read the guidance notes on eligibility. Each award is worth up to £250 and at least one will be allocated to a UK-based applicant (deadline 16 May). More details can be found here.
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Location
Almost all conference activity will take place at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC), 200 Jennens Road, Birmingham, UK B4 7XR.
The conference banquet will be held at the Clayton Hotel (7 minutes’ walk from RBC). The venue for the Friday evening concert is the historic St Paul’s Church in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter – a 25-minute walk or 10-minute car journey.
Getting here
RBC is easily accessible from Birmingham City Centre: it is a walk of 15-20 minutes from the main station, Birmingham New Street. For directions on foot from New Street station (and from Moor Street station), and on accessing RBC by car from the motorway networks which serve the city, see map and directions.
Birmingham is served by Birmingham International Airport. A free air-rail link connects the airport to Birmingham International Station, from where there are frequent connections to Birmingham New Street station. See Getting to Birmingham Airport by train.
Electronic travel authorisation
If you are travelling to us from outside the UK, please be aware of the new requirement for visitors to be in possession of an ETA; see: Apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) and Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) factsheet.
Staying in Birmingham
We have negotiated conference rates for Bed and Breakfast in the three hotels closest to RBC. Details of promotional codes will be available to conference registrants on request (please send an email to: biennialbaroque2025@bcu.ac.uk). One of these deals is valid only until 4 June, and others until 16 and 18 June, so please book in good time.
Succession Planning
We are keen that, by the end of the conference in July, we have a host in place for 2027. We will provide space at this year’s business meeting for short presentations from interested institutions, and the assembled 2025 delegates will take a vote. If you plan to bid, it would be useful to know by 1 June 2025. Please send a note to the conference inbox: biennialbaroque2025@bcu.ac.uk