'The musical experience of a lifetime'

'The world's finest musicians in a magnificent setting'

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Our concerts are based at the historic Hansom Hall in Belvoir Street, now part of the Leicester Adult Education Centre. We look forward to returning to the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery when the redevelopment project is finished.

Hansom Hall

change of programme: Thursday 8th January, 1-2pm

We are very disappointed that Alli Daniel is now unable to perform for us on 8th January due to her professional commitments elsewhere, and we hope to reschedule her concert with Chris Eldred (piano) for the 2026/27 season.

The good news is that our Artistic Director, Nicholas Daniel, will be performing instead with a very good friend of LIMF, Fenella Humphreys (violin) and her long-time piano partner, Martin Roscoe, just ahead of the trio’s joint concert at the Wigmore Hall. The programme will include works by Mozart, Alasdair Nicholson, Dorothy Howell and Gabriel Fauré.

If you have already purchased tickets for this concert, your ticket will still be valid, of course. If you would prefer to transfer your booking to the new date for Alli and Chris, please contact us.

next lunchtime concert: thursday 18th december, 1-2pm

We close our autumn series with the very exciting Marmen Quartet playing Haydn and Beethoven:

'They receive praise for their vibrant interplay, emotional depth (especially in Beethoven and Haydn), and ability to make each instrument's voice clear while creating a powerful whole, establishing them as a leading, award-winning talent in contemporary chamber music. Reviewers highlight their effortless stage presence, expressive musicality, and successful tackling of challenging repertoires, from classical masters to modern composers'.

Tickets are available online or on the door (Adults £18, U25s FREE)

lasT LUNCHTIME CONCERT: THURSDAY 4TH decEMBER

Hugo Hymas (tenor) and Ashok Gupta (fortepiano) gave us a period-performance of Schubert's celebrated song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin, and it proved to be a revelatory journey into Schubert's sound world. Ashok's fortepiano was a wonderful foil for Hugo's voice, with some magically ethereal moments to treasure.

LUNCHTIME CONCERT: THURSDAY 20TH NOVEMBER

We were joined for an hour of poetry and music by renowned actor Paul McGann, and an old friend of LIMF, the wonderful pianist, Charles Owen.

Paul read a selection of poems from Seamus Heaney’s North, which was published 50 years ago, combining reflections on ‘The Troubles’ with stark imagery of ancient bog bodies from the Viking era.

Charles performed a selection of meditative solo piano pieces by Debussy, Ravel, Janacek and Cheryl Francis-Hoad: the largest audience for any concert post-Covid was kept spellbound.

lunchtime concert: 6th november

standard issue

We were delighted to welcome London-based new music collective, Standard Issue, to Hansom Hall for our most recent lunchtime concert.

Their programme of contemporary music sounded wonderful in the hall’s generous acoustics. One of the highlights was a piece for solo violin, with an ambient backing track played over the hall’s excellent surround sound system - a dreamy experience. The various combinations of instruments (including Ollie Hawker’s ethereal saw) created a magical and memorable tapestry of sounds which kept an appreciative audience spellbound.

lunchtime concert: 23rd october

paddington trio: haydn & schubert

The Paddington Trio gave a sparkling performance in their lunchtime concert at Hansom Hall. Their interpretations of trios by Haydn and Schubert crackled with energy and it was no surprise that they were called back to give an encore - The Armless Fiddler from Sam Perkins’ Freakshow.

We would like to thank the Parkhouse Award for supporting this concert, and we wish the Trio well on their forthcoming trip to China and in their competition in New York next month.

Lunchtime Concert: 9th october 2025 1-2pm

Our new season of Lunchtime Concerts began on 9th October, with the visit of award-winning Ukrainian pianist, Sasha Grynyuk, who played music by Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninov and Lera Auerbach.  

We were delighted to welcome a large audience to Hansom Hall, and Sasha kept everyone enthralled with a sparkling hour of magnificent playing. As someone said on the way out, our Steinway sounded like an orchestra.

Click on this link to visit our Lunchtime Concert page for full details and tickets.

LEICESTER INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL: 17th - 20th SEPTEMBER 2025

What a festival we’ve had! Thank you to all of our amazing musicians, to our composer-in-residence, Emma-Ruth Richards and - of course - to our Artistic Director, Nicholas Daniel, for a series of brilliant concerts at Hansom Hall.

In addition to those, a world première evening at the Attenborough Arts Centre was particularly memorable.

During the festival, we also enjoyed entertaining the young people at local primary schools, the more senior residents of Wyggeston Alms Houses and all ages of music-lovers at our Family Concert.

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Our Friends help us to bring the world's best musicians to Leicester. They help fund valuable education and community projects locally. They also enable us to support young artists and to commission new works.

Please consider joining us. In return we will send you regular news by email and offer you priority booking; and invite you to open rehearsals where you can meet our musicians; to pre-concert talks and to a Festival Reception.