At the English Music Festival, 23rd-26th May 2025, several works by Gibbs were performed. These were Almayne, four harmonisations for strings based on a 17th century air played on Saturday evening by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. On Monday morning the pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi played The Gates of Sleep and Four Preludes. It was lovely to hear these works played so competently and expressively by the pianist who also introduced them with his thoughts and personal impressions of each piece.
On Monday evening, the concluding concert of the EMF began with Five Elizabethan Lyrics sung exquisitely by Excalibur Voices under Duncan Aspden. These unaccompanied part-songs were written by the composer for the Danbury Choral Society and made a fitting opening to a programme of English part-songs by Finzi, Howells and Ireland amongst others.