Nevill Holt Adds Acts to 2025 Line Up

Nevill Holt Festival, the multi-arts and culture festival held in the Leicestershire countryside, announces further acts to the 2025 line up. The festival presents a varied and rich programme of events of live opera and jazz, plus ‘in conversation' events on visual art, culture, history and politics set amongst panoramic views. 

Soul singer Jalen Ngonda returns to the festival following the release of his new single ‘Anyone in Love', and acclaimed pianist Yevgeny Subdin will take over the Nevill Holt theatre for a piano recital to remember. In celebration of the King's Official Birthday and Trooping of the Colour on the same day, Opera North and Nevill Holt Festival present a one-off lunchtime concert: Happy Birthday, Your Majesty. This comes as Nevill Holt Festival embarks on a five year partnership with Opera North, beginning with Mozart's much-loved Così Fan Tutte in its first year. This joins the current music line up which includes Harlem Nights: In the Spirit of Swing, and a performance from Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra.

In the arts and culture programme this year, and joining the previously announced Richard E Grant and Pam Ayres, Mishal Husain will explore her family history, weaving stories of a generation shaped by the Raj, a World War, independence and partition through her acclaimed memoir Broken Threads. Tom Bower, acclaimed investigative journalist and bestselling biographer, sits down with political journalist and presenter Tom Newton Dunn to go behind the scenes on Bower's 40 years career as a biographer.

Lucy Fleming and Simon Wiliams will perform Posting Letters to the Moon; a romantic and touching portrait of life during the second World War and features readings of letters between Oscar-nominated actress Celia Johnson and her husband Peter Fleming (brother of James Bond creator Ian Fleming) posted to India and the Far East during the war working for Military Intelligence. Lucy Fleming is their daughter, and Simon Williams is her husband. 

For history and politics lovers, British historians Simon Sebag Montefiore and Andrew Roberts will discuss the art of history and biography-writing, plus the historian and co-host of the hit podcast Empire, William Dalrymple, will reveal India's role as a cultural and scientific superpower of the ancient world. Former MP Simon Hart discusses his book ‘Ungovernable', offering a glimpse of what truly goes on in Westminster behind closed doors. 

This year, Dame Prue Leith CBE makes her festival debut as announced in February. Joining her in the culinary lineup will be Sophie Grigson who explores the flavours of Southern Italy with her book ‘Exploding Tomatoes and Other Stories' as the launchpad. Elsewhere, Bake Off champion Matty Edgell will bring his signature charm and expertise to the festival in a live demo offering insider tips, mouthwatering recipes, and the secrets behind his show-stopping cakes. 

Launching Nevill Holt's art and design programme this year will be a live episode of Talk Art: Everything you wanted to know about contemporary art but were afraid to ask with gallerist Robert Diament and actor Russell Tovey. In this exclusive chat at Nevill Holt Festival, they explore the magic of art and why it connects us all in such fantastic ways. 

The visual art programme this year also includes acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare who will discuss his illustrious career examining race, class and the construction of cultural identity using interdisciplinary practices of Western art history and literature. His work comments on the tangled interrelationship between Africa and Europe, and their respective economic and political histories. Also offering exclusive insight into their practise will be Michael Craig-Martin, an Irish-born contemporary conceptual artist and painter, known for his conceptual artwork, ‘An Oak Tree' which helped shape the landscape of British Conceptualism, he will be in conversation with Marco Livingstone.

Finally, the comedy programme this year includes the Leicester Comedy Festival Award Winners Show; a showcase of the award winning and fresh talent from the local area. This joins the previously announced Jason Byrne and Underbelly's Comedy AllStars. 

This second set of acts go on sale 10am on Thursday 6 March. Tickets are on sale now for members. 

Additional acts will be announced in late March, which will include more family shows, comedy and in-conversation events, plus details of the delicious food and drink offering. 

 

In 2025, Nevill Holt Festival joined forces with Underbelly, who will be programming and general-managing the event. Underbelly is a UK-based live entertainment company who produce world-class festivals and productions including being one of the biggest venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

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