The Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival has grown into a truly important event in the cultural calendar of this beautiful area. Each year the festival stages chamber music concerts of exceptional quality in intimate and historic venues. It is currently directed by Daniel Tong with fellow pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips.
Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival has retained a unique character. It was founded with a passion that still infuses the festival and is being passed unto the next generation of chamber musicians through the Summer Residency,
The standard of musicians Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival attracts is extremely high. During the festival the musicians live and work together in Treowen Manor, a Grade 1 listed manor house which provides a wonderfully atmospheric home for the festival. Many of the musicians return every year, purely for the pleasure of rehearsing and playing the chosen repertoire.
Some of the most special moments of my musical life have been spent at the Wye Valley Festival. The chance to spend time with great music and wonderful artists in private, and to hear masterpieces performed with such understanding and commitment, is priceless. The enormous amount of work that has gone into making Wye Valley Chamber Music flourish is always repaid with the pleasure and inspiration it gives to others, musicians and audience alike.
Daniel Tong (artistic director)
Meet The Team
Daniel Tong
Co-Director
Daniel Tong founded WVCM in 2000 and has directed the festival throughout its life. He has a busy and varied chamber music life, collaborating with a number of inspiring artists, including his London Bridge Trio. He also gives frequent solo recitals, Gramophone describing him as ‘an extraordinarily sympathetic Schubertian’ after his first solo release. Further recordings of piano music by Beethoven and Brahms will shortly arrive on Resonus Classics. A particular love for the music of Beethoven has led to recordings of the complete Violin Sonatas (with Krysia Osostowicz) and Cello Sonatas (with Robin Michael), for which The Guardian praised his ‘masterly pianism’. Daniel is Head of Piano Chamber Music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where he was recently awarded his PhD.
Simon Crawford-Philips
Co-Director
Simon is a multi-festival director, renowned pianist, creative programmer with a passion for championing contemporary repertoire, and a chamber musician who regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power in repertoire from Haydn and Schumann to Adès, Byström, Dean and Reich. His own ensembles include The Kungsbacka Piano Trio, and Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble (resident artists at Stockholm Konzerthus).
Victoria MacManus
Festival Manager
Vic joined Wye Valley Chamber Music in 2023 and has spent her career working to create meaningful experiences for audiences and musicians. After completing a music degree, she spent some time working for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, before spending a decade in New Zealand with organisations such as Chamber Music New Zealand, New Zealand Festival and Stroma Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has now returned to Monmouthshire, Wales with her family and is looking forward to some great chamber music festivals in the Wye Valley. Get in touch!