Update Sunday 4 May: No Community Cabaret tonight
If you looked closely, the Tinners Moon Festival brochure lists a Communuity Cabaret as happening this evening. This has never been well-publicised, and as a result, nobody has offered to come and perform. It’s been a really busy few days already, and there’s more great stuff coming next week, so we’re going to cancel this tonight, and have a quiet night in. Do come and see Kevin Figes Quartet tomorrow night (listen here to some of their music on Bandcamp).
Also, Pizza Amoré IS open until 8.30pm serving woodfired pizza, chips and garlic bread in the forecourt. The same on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week (to 10 May).
The first place that events usually get listed is at wegottickets.com/ashburtonarts. Sometimes they get listed there before they appear below. You can also book tickets there (+10% booking fee) or email boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk to reserve and pay on the door (cash or card). See Access, Tickets & Finding Us for more about why there are three ticket prices, plus other useful info about coming to events at Ashburton Arts Centre. To be kept up to date with everything going on at Ashburton Arts Centre, join our mailing list.
May 2025
Kevin Figes Quartet – You Are HereMonday 5 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
Steve Buckley is one of the finest alto sax players in Europe. Since emerging on the UK jazz scene with Loose Tubes in the 1980s, he has played globally with an astonishing array of topflight jazz names on both sides of the Atlantic and in Europe, won BBC Jazz Awards, worked at the National Theatre in a number of productions and gathered plaudits aplenty.
Roland Arnison: The Call of the Loon
Wednesday 7 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
A multimedia talk by Roland Arnison, telling the story of his solo kayaking expedition to record the calls of all of Scotland’s seabird species and revealing the hidden world of our fascinating, precious and threatened seabirds.
“Highly recommended, we absolutely loved it and learnt SOOOO much.”
Seminar Series: Continuing Conversations about a Life Well-Lived
Thursday 8 May 2025 at 6:00 PM
More info and tickets
Prof Joe Foweraker looks at ‘the challenges of a life well-lived’. His sessions are similar to university seminars, though there are no qualifications needed to come, or essays to write! – you just need to be interested and curious. They’re very friendly and informal.
Härva Trio
Thursday 8 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
The members of Härva combine their talents and passion for Romanian and Serbian music with elements of their individual roots to create their unique sound with violin, guitar, accordion, tabor pipe and vocals. Their set takes you on a journey through joyful Romanian dances; emotive Roma songs with a one handed English Tabor Pipe; Swedish vocal harmonies; Breton inspired Geamparalele; Serbian Kolo, and the Romanian Jazz of accordionists such as Ionica Minune.
Living Room Theatre: The End is In The Beginning, a Samuel Beckett omnibus
Friday 9 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
Expect a bicycle, a giant mouth, old boots, audience up on stage, a bevvy of bananas, a mystery phone call, frantic clowning, beguiling stillness, all encased in hilarious, poignant, confusing and compelling drama, ie the usual stuff you might get with yours truly!
Angelheart Theatre: Sam O’Shanty
Saturday 10 May 2025 at 2:30 PM
More info and tickets
Sam O’Shanty has sailed the Seven Seas: from Devonport to Durban Bay. From Nantucket to New Guinea. From Cape Wrath to the Cape of Good Hope. But now Sam has come ashore, and with his two shipmates he’s got all manner of marvellous stories to tell.
Shiver yer timbers to the curious tale of a batty witch and her enchanted wee cap!
Or hear the tangled yarn of the Lucky Mermaid and the man who went to sea in a bucket!
Sam O’Shanty is a nautically comic show for all the family, crammed with fact, farce and fantasy. A performance in which storytelling, puppetry and the singing of shanties will entertain, enthral and delight…Huzzar!
Jazz Jam Session (first Monday of each month): Martin Jenkins & Tony Follano
Monday 12 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
The first Monday of each month starting at 7.30pm. This month’s house band will be:
Jesse Molins on guitar and your host for the evening with: Kieron Garrett, piano and Ric Byer, drums
The Kudu Band
Friday 16 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
This’ll be a bit of a party night. From the musicians who brought you Makiwa and Wendy and the Coconuts comes an exciting new 5-piece band from Devon playing an original blend of African and reggae-influenced music. Upbeat and danceable, The Kudu Band is fronted by the Wendy Herman on vocals, Larry J from Zimbabwe on bass, the legendary Bill Birks on lead guitar, Paul Biggs on rhythm guitar and Aaron Jenkinson (formerly of Chimanimani) on drums.
Club Tropicana - 80s Club Night
Saturday 17 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
A fundraising club night with DJs Al and Vicki spinning your favourite 80s tracks in support of South Dartmoor Community College Ten Tors Team.
Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service Concert Band
Sunday 18 May 2025 at 3:00 PM
More info and tickets
The Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service Concert Band is in its 31st year with over 40 members, including former professional musicians and skilled amateurs from the broader local community. The programme will include a wide variety of music styles including classical, pop music and film music, plus some contemporary concert band pieces. The programme includes Prismatic Light by Alan Fernie, Morning, Noon & Night in Vienna, Trumpet Voluntary and Swing When You’re Winning – a medley of big band numbers from Robbie Williams’s 2001 album.
Ahmed Dickinson and Eduardo Martín: virtuoso guitar duo from Cuba
Thursday 22 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
The show compiles some of Grammy nominee composer Eduardo’s most alluring works for two guitars. Prepare to listen to classical styles merged with rock and son montunos, old Yoruba chants or feel-good rumbas with funk- boleros, and new-age tunes and cinematic pieces sitting alongside Cuban tumbaos with slap bass.
Martha Tilson
Friday 23 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
“She has probably the purest voice I have heard and at times it sent shivers up and down my spine” BBC
DARTMOOR – OPEN TO ALL? A conversation with Kate Ashbrook, Matthew Kelly, Guy Shrubsole and Lewis Winks
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 9:30 AM
More info and tickets
Who really holds the power on Dartmoor? As a National Park, Dartmoor is supposed to be accessible to all, and until recently was the only place in the country you could wild camp freely. But a recent court case has thrown all that into doubt. Can we feel confident about being able to access Southern England’s biggest wilderness in future? Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
ROCK IDOLS – DARTMOOR’S EXTRAORDINARY TORS: Wyl Menmuir in conversation with Alex Murdin and Sophie Pierce
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 11:00 AM
More info and tickets
Fantastical yet natural, Dartmoor’s 280-million-year-old tors are among the most iconic landmarks in southern Britain. Victorian antiquarians described them as ‘rock idols’, believing them to be stone deities worshipped by the Druids. Thousands of years before that, they inspired our ancestors who built ceremonial stone rows and circles aligned on them…
Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
THE SECRETS OF CUT HILL AND PILES HILL: Uncovering the lives of the ancestors – A talk by DNP archaeologists Lee Bray and Andy Crabb
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 12:30 PM
More info and tickets
In August 2024 a Bronze Age burial cist — described as exceptional — was excavated at Cut Hill, one of the moor’s highest and most remote sites. And the year before that, a possible surface made of quartz was found underneath a double stone row at Piles Hill. Archaeologists Dr Lee Bray and Dr Andy Crabb, from the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA), will reveal the latest findings from these extraordinary discoveries, taking us on a journey of archaeological inquiry. In a story which involves everything from battling the moor’s inclement weather, to re-erecting fallen stones, they will unveil the secrets of these ancient stone monuments.
Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
BEYOND HUMAN: LANDSCAPE’S EMOTIONAL RESONANCE: Readings by and conversation with Sean Borodale and Fiona Williams
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 2:00 PM
More info and tickets
What role does place play in human stories? And how can our emotional response to wild landscapes deepen our lives and those of the other beings which share our planet? From caves and rivers, to moors and marshes, join writers whose work is deeply rooted in British locations for readings and a conversation about our relationship with the landscapes that surround us.
Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
DARTMOOR IS THE ARTIST: A visual presentation and conversation with Land & Lore, Garry Fabian Miller, Matthew Shaw and Mark Jessett
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 3:30 PM
More info and tickets
Through visual presentation and conversation, find out how Dartmoor, and other places, have been leading the way for some of the most interesting human artists making art today: Lore & Land, Garry Fabian Miller, Matthew Shaw and Mark Jessett.
Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
SOLD OUT: Seth Lakeman (with Benji Kirkpatrick and Alex Hart)
Saturday 24 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
Dartmoor Folk legend with two of his regular collaborators. Tickets will go on sale from 12 noon on Saturday 22 February.
BELTANE BORDER: THE DARK SIDE OF FOLK: A conversation with, and performance by, Dartmoor’s wildest Morris side
Sunday 25 May 2025 at 6:00 PM
More info and tickets
Join us for rare conversation with Beltane Border, followed by a thrilling performance outside Ashburton Arts Centre.
What is behind the tradition — and subversion — of this legendary Dartmoor Morris side?
Where do the dances come from, and how do they relate to the landscape of Dartmoor?
And why the fierce faces and fishnets?
Part of Dartmoor Tors Festival
NOBATB: Alex Voysey Trio and Vince Lee & Sophie Lord
Monday 26 May 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
The last Monday of every month here is Not Only But also The Blues where we feature some of the finest exponents in the south west, and beyond, of music whose roots are in the blues.
Alex Voysey Trio: “Outstanding, energetic, breathtaking” Swanage Blues Festival 2024
Vince Lee & Sophie Lord, recently returned from touring in California, USA
Jul 2025
Ashburton Chamber Music Festival 2025Friday 18 July 2025 - Sunday 27 July 2025 at 12:00 AM
More info and tickets
We’ve confirmed the dates and programme for the Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025, This series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events are hosted around Ashburton from 18 – 28 July 2024. To see the preliminary information, that is subject to change, read the ACMF 2025 webpage. If you want to hear when the dates and venues are announced and tickets are available, please sign up to the Ashburton Arts Centre’s mailing list here.
ACMF 2025 Hausmusik # 1: 25 East Street
Friday 18 July 2025 at 7:00 PM
More info and tickets
What is a Hausmusik? An informal event where the audience decides what’s played from a selection of chamber music, and the musicians will sight-read it together for the first time.
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27 July 2024. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ACMF 2025
ACMF 2025 Hausmusik # 2: Bigadon Cottage, Buckfastleigh
Saturday 19 July 2025 at 7:00 PM
More info and tickets
What is a Hausmusik? An informal event where the audience decides what’s played from a selection of chamber music, and the musicians will sight-read it together for the first time.
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27 July 2024. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ACMF 2025
ACMF 2025 Meet the Musicians: Ashburton Arts Centre
Sunday 20 July 2025 at 4:00 PM
More info and tickets
Richard Gonski, moderator Introduces the musicians, & selections from the programme.
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Family Concert: Ashburton Arts Centre
Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 5:00 PM
More info and tickets
Hear short selections from the week
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Concert No 1: Ashburton Arts Centre
Wednesday 23 July 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
This concert features music by Bach, Shostakovich, Knussen
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 128– 27 July 2024. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Concert No 2: A secret venue
Thursday 24 July 2025 at 9:00 PM
More info and tickets
What is a Nachtmusik? NEW for 2025, this is a concert performed in the dark, close to nature in a magical Dartmoor location.
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Concert No 3: St Pancras Church Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Friday 25 July 2025 at 9:30 PM
More info and tickets
This Concert features music by Bach, Shostakovich, Knussen with informal artist “Talk Back” afterwards
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Concert No 4: St Andrew's Church, Ashburton
Saturday 26 July 2025 at 7:30 PM
More info and tickets
This Concert features music by: Thomas with dancer Lois Taylor, choreographed with Angus Balbernie, Vignieri, Mills (world premiere), Beethoven
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
ACMF 2025 Concert No 5: Ashburton Arts Centre
Sunday 27 July 2025 at 5:00 PM
More info and tickets
This Concert features highlights from the Festival. If you’ve heard something that you’d really love to hear again at any of the performances, let us know – you can email boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk – and it might make it into the programme.
This is part of Ashburton Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) 2025 – a series of concerts, hausmusiks (where the musicians sight-read what the audience chooses) and other events in and around Ashburton from 18– 27July 2025. To see everything that’s happening, and more about the music and the musicians go to ashburtonarts.org.uk/acmf.
Event Calendar
Click on an event to see more information about each event, including prices and details of how to get tickets. Use the Monthly/Weekly/Daily option at the top right to change how you view the calendar.
What we’ve been up to so far…
