Things to Do, Entertainment
National Centre for Early Music

















About Us
The NCEM is an accessible, flexible and intimate music venue, based in the medieval, Grade I listed, converted church of St Margaret’s which stands in the heart of the City of York in an attractive and spacious church garden. As well as promoting a spring and autumn season of high class artists from around the world we are also the home of the internationally acclaimed York Early Music Festival..
The York Early Music Festival was established in 1977 and is designed to celebrate York’s myriad medieval churches, guildhalls and historic houses through historically informed music making of the highest international standard. The Festival is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the NCEM’s annual programme and enjoyed by visitors from across the world.
In 1997 the York Early Music Christmas Festival was created to introduce audiences to the extraordinary wealth of music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, intertwined with the sagas, stories and tales of the north.
The NCEM is available for hire for concerts, weddings, parties, conferences and other events.
Opening Times
Monday - Friday: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Facilities
- Wheelchair access
- Disabled toilets
- Facilities for hearing impaired
- Baby changing facilities
- Children welcome
- Advance booking encouraged
- Meeting room
- Facilities for educational visits
- Groups welcome
- Bar
- Board/Flipchart
- Facilities for conferencing
- Facilities for corporate hospitality
- Grounds for outdoor activities
- Wedding receptions
Location
Events at National Centre for Early Music

Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Bach Sacred And Secular JS Bach Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’, BWV82a JS Bach Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, BWV209 Bach’s…

Summer Nights
Join three rising stars of the baroque in an exhilarating exploration of the music of Vivaldi and Vitali.

The Sixteen
Angel of Peace In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, a slice of tranquillity in many f…

University of York Baroque Ensemble with Ensemble Hesperi
Concertos on the Edge Join us as we head to Leipzig for Bach’s stormy Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV1052*, likely …

Academy of Ancient Music
An evening of music by JS Bach, who learned the skill and flair of writing violin concertos from studying examples by V…

Academy of Ancient Music
An evening of music by JS Bach, who learned the skill and flair of writing violin concertos from studying examples by V…

Ayres Extemporae
Erbarme Dich! We welcome the overall winners of the 2024 York Early Music Young Artists Competition back to the NCEM as…

Sollazzo
The Angels are Singing While late-medieval poets explored a dizzying range of emotions from heavenly ecstasy to the hel…

Ensemble Bastion
Phantasma: Visions of Heaven and Hell The 17th century was a time of devastation when famine, plague and war ravaged Eu…

Heaven & Hell
Helen Charlston mezzo sopranoToby Carr theorbo Inspired by the vivid music of Purcell, Charpentier, Stozzi and Montever…

Rose Consort of Viols
The Silver Swan Orlando Gibbons’s Music ‘Apt For Viols And Voyces’ When Gibbons published his First Set of Madrigals an…

Cantoria
A La Fiesta! The joy and optimism of popular cultures blends with the mysticism and devotion of the music of the Spanis…

Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Bach Sacred And Secular JS Bach Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’, BWV82a JS Bach Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, BWV209 Bach’s…

Summer Nights
Join three rising stars of the baroque in an exhilarating exploration of the music of Vivaldi and Vitali.

The Sixteen
Angel of Peace In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, a slice of tranquillity in many f…

University of York Baroque Ensemble with Ensemble Hesperi
Concertos on the Edge Join us as we head to Leipzig for Bach’s stormy Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV1052*, likely …

Academy of Ancient Music
An evening of music by JS Bach, who learned the skill and flair of writing violin concertos from studying examples by V…

Academy of Ancient Music
An evening of music by JS Bach, who learned the skill and flair of writing violin concertos from studying examples by V…

Ayres Extemporae
Erbarme Dich! We welcome the overall winners of the 2024 York Early Music Young Artists Competition back to the NCEM as…

Sollazzo
The Angels are Singing While late-medieval poets explored a dizzying range of emotions from heavenly ecstasy to the hel…

Ensemble Bastion
Phantasma: Visions of Heaven and Hell The 17th century was a time of devastation when famine, plague and war ravaged Eu…

Heaven & Hell
Helen Charlston mezzo sopranoToby Carr theorbo Inspired by the vivid music of Purcell, Charpentier, Stozzi and Montever…

Rose Consort of Viols
The Silver Swan Orlando Gibbons’s Music ‘Apt For Viols And Voyces’ When Gibbons published his First Set of Madrigals an…

Cantoria
A La Fiesta! The joy and optimism of popular cultures blends with the mysticism and devotion of the music of the Spanis…

Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Bach Sacred And Secular JS Bach Cantata ‘Ich habe genug’, BWV82a JS Bach Cantata ‘Non sa che sia dolore’, BWV209 Bach’s…

Summer Nights
Join three rising stars of the baroque in an exhilarating exploration of the music of Vivaldi and Vitali.

The Sixteen
Angel of Peace In an age of resurgent conflict and frenetic demands on our attention, a slice of tranquillity in many f…

University of York Baroque Ensemble with Ensemble Hesperi
Concertos on the Edge Join us as we head to Leipzig for Bach’s stormy Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV1052*, likely …
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