Musica Britannica
Exploring Britain’s cultural heritage in a national collection of music
About
Founded in 1951, Musica Britannica is an ongoing series of scholarly editions, intended as a representative collection of the monuments of British musical culture. The Musica Britannica Trust, which has been a registered charity since 1976, aims to promote, support and develop research into British music. Our primary activity is the publication of scholarly editions, but we also award grants to support new recordings of this repertory and provide opportunities for emerging performers through our annual competition, the Lewis Memorial Prize.
Opening of François Cellier, Captain Billy. British Library, MS Mus. 1824/2/2/1, fol. 2r
Publications
During our first 75 years, over 110 volumes of Musica Britannica have been published. The repertory ranges from Medieval songs, carols and secular polyphony to late-Victorian operettas, and early 20th-century songs and orchestral works.
Award and Competition
We award grants annually to support the production of high-quality recordings of repertory included within the edition.
The Lewis Memorial Prize competition is also held every year for performers of material from the edition, rotating on a triannual basis between singers, keyboard players and consorts.
Close up of 1778 Kirckman harpsichord held at Royal Academy of Music. Reproduced with permission from the Royal Academy of Music.
News
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Job opportunity: Secretary to the Musica Britannica Trust
The Trustees and Editorial Committee of Musica Britannica invite applications for the post of Secretary to the Trust. The Secretary provides administrative support to the Trustees and Editorial Committee, working closely with the Chair, the General Editor and the publisher, Stainer & Bell. The secretary will be appointed from 1 July 2026, initially for a 5-year term. Full details of the post, including the job description, person specification and honorarium, are available here. The deadline for receipt of applications is 12 noon on Thursday 16 April 2026.
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Lewis Memorial Prize Competition 2026
Congratulations to Anhad Arora, Adam Chillingworth, Ceci Keiffer, Paul Mnatsakanov, Li Xu-Zhang and Han Zhao who have been selected as finalists of the Lewis Memorial Prize Competition 2026. All six will be performing a 20-minute keyboard recital on Thursday 9 April in the David Josefowitz Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London. We are delighted that the expert judge for the competition will be the renowned harpsichordist and musicologist Davitt Moroney.
Photo: Robert Munsell -
Recital by 2025 Recording Award winners
Caroline Taylor and George Ireland, recipients of a Musica Britannica Recording Award in 2025, will be performing music from their forthcoming recording, Tea for Two: Songs of Spring, on Sunday 15 March 2026, 1.30pm, at St Columba’s Church, SW1X 0BD. Their programme includes songs from Musica Britannica Volume 56 by Liza Lehmann, Arthur Sullivan and Maude Valérie White. More information can be found at: https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/event/sounds-of-st-columbas-caroline-taylor-soprano-and-george-ireland-piano/.
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2025 Recording Award winners announced
Grants have been awarded to support two recording projects. Caroline Taylor and George Ireland will use music from MB 56 in their recording of Spring songs, and a recording of Restoration court music taken from MB 103 will be made by Martin Perkins and the Musical & Amicable Society (pictured above).
Photo: Martin Perkins