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On Saturday the 21st of November 2026 Rachel Portman is featured in a fundraising event to support the future of music at Chichester Cathedral. 'An evening with Rachel Portman' is an unmissable evening of music and storytelling, a performance exploring the stories behind some of her most loved music.
The evening begins with Rachel sharing stories from her career and exploring the creative process behind her film scores. In conversation with Julian Biggs and accompanied by clips from several of the films she has worked on, including Emma, Chocolat, The Duchess, The Cider House Rules and One Day, Rachel will reveal the stories and inspiration behind the music. She will also play the piano, bringing her music and creative process to life in the Cathedral. The second half moves from the screen to live performance as the Chichester Cathedral Choir performs a selection of Rachel’s choral works alongside complementary repertoire. Set within the extraordinary surroundings of Chichester Cathedral this promises to be a very special evening.
Tickets are now on sale at the Chichester Cathedral website, the evening starts at 7 PM (doors open at 6 PM).
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'A Dog’s Perfect Christmas' is an upcoming film based on the book by W. Bruce Cameron, the author of the bestselling novel 'A Dog’s Purpose'. In 2017 director Lasse Hallström successfully created the film 'A Dog’s Purpose', for which he turned to Rachel Portman for the film score. This time 'A Dog’s Perfect Christmas' is directed by Cathryn Michon, W. Bruce Cameron's wife, and the film is currently in pre-production. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, and Mary Steenburgen. In a recent post Michon revealed that Rachel Portman is again involved to compose an original score, and it seems the score was recently recorded in studios in London and Budapest.
'A Dog’s Perfect Christmas' follows a family struggling during the Christmas season while a loyal basset hound watches over them and helps keep the family together during their hardest time. The film is expected to screen on Netflix in November 2026.
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Rachel Portman recently renewed her official website rachelportman.co.uk, giving it a fresh new nature-themed look. Apart from a brief professional biography, the site provides an extensive overview of film and other works with abundant details, and lists upcoming and past events featuring her music. If you wish to stay up-to-date with news about Rachel Portman it is recommended to subscribe to the newsletter.
Official website: rachelportman.co.uk
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On Sunday the 14th of June 2026 18:00 hrs Rachel Portman is a special guest at the stage performance of Niklas and Nils Liepe. In conversation with her longtime collaborator and publisher Gill Graham, Rachel Portman looks back on her artistic career and offers personal insights into her work.
The event, organised by the Liepe brothers as part of their festival "Liepe & Co", takes place at Stahlhalle 2 of the Nettlenbusch and Syrowy company in Hannover (Germany) and is described as an intimate evening of conversation and music. The playlist includes specially arranged suites and themes from well-known film scores such as Emma, Chocolat, Never Let Me Go, and The Cider House Rules.
Tickets are available here.
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On Thursday the 23rd of April 2026 Rachel Portman will participate at 'Celebrating the Earth', a three-way conversation about the creative process, inspiration and collaboration between artist Julie Brook, composer Rachel Portman and poet Nick Drake, with music extracts, film and poetry readings that celebrate and honour the Earth and the Elements. The event will be held at Kings Place, a venue situated just a few minutes’ walk from King’s Cross and St. Pancras stations in London, starting at 7:30 pm in Hall Two. The event will last approximately 70 minutes without an interval.
In conversation with artist Julie Brook, award-winning composer Rachel Portman, and poet Nick Drake will expand on their collaborations 'Earth Song' and 'Tipping Points' that draw inspiration from the environment and elements. In their discussion, they will explore with Brook her elemental work 'Firestack' and the connections and differences between process and expression across the three disciplines, and how this is presented to an audience.
Tickets are available here.
Update: watch a video of the event here
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"The Darkling Thrush" is a new composition by Rachel Portman, commissioned by King’s College in Cambridge. The composition is a 5-minute carol and its premiere performance will take place on Christmas Eve 2025 as part of the world-famous 'A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols' at the chapel of King's College. The event will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service on the 24th of December at 15:00 GMT. In the United States the service is distributed by American Public Media and is broadcast by over 400 radio stations, including Minnesota Public Radio and WQXR in New York.
'A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols' is a yearly service at the chapel of King's College in Cambridge that for many marks the beginning of Christmas. It was first held at on Christmas Eve 1918, first broadcast in 1928 and is now broadcast to millions of people worldwide. Since 1983 a new carol has been commissioned for the service every year, with this year's contribution by Rachel Portman.
The composition "The Darkling Thrush" is based on a poem by Thomas Hardy which was written around 1900. As Rachel Portman explained: “I chose Thomas Hardy’s The Darkling Thrush to set as a carol because it’s about faith in renewal. It was first suggested to me by my daughter who’d studied Hardy’s poems. I needed to find a text to sit within the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s and initially I was unsure it would be appropriate, however when the same poem was suggested by Laura Davies from the English Faculty at King’s, I looked again and discovered much in the words to set. I was particularly drawn to its deep rural setting, beginning as it does in the cold winter landscape, and the uplifting song of the little bird that bursts out upon the stillness bringing hope. The thrush’s song in the poem is given to a solo chorister, and the choir responds in growing warmth and melody. The poignancy of a frail thrush’s song as the bringer of hope into the world is, I feel, a good message for our time."
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Rachel Portman is scheduled for a performance at the London Soundtrack Festival on Sunday April 12th 2026 18:30 CET at the Cadogan Hall. At the event titled 'Beyond The Screen' she will reflect on her career so far with Gill Graham, her long-time friend and publisher, and together with Niklas Liepe on violin and Nils Liepe on piano perform suites and themes from her much-loved catalogue of film scores, including The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Never Let Me Go, Emma and more.
Tickets are available here: Cadogan Hall
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On Tuesday December 16th 2025 Rachel Portman will join Antonia Quirke on BBC 3 radio show 'The Essay', broadcast at 21:45 GMT. Antonia Quirke speaks to composers who've scored original music for Austen adaptations about their musical choices and also about the music Austen enjoyed. Rachel Portman is invited to speak about her award-winning score for the 1996 film 'Emma'.
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On the 7th of November 2025 Sony Classical released the single "Epilogue" through streaming media. The 4 minute track, a reflective composition for piano and violin played by Rachel Portman and Niklas Liepe, is the closing part of the "Tipping Points" violin concerto released in 2024. On release of the single Rachel Portman commented "Excited to share my new single Epilogue, a call to arms for our forests, with sublime violin playing by Niklas Liepe".
The new single is the 6th in a series of singles published in 2025, all songs are planned for release on an upcoming album in 2026, in collaboration with instrumentalists Niklas Liepe and Martin Fröst.
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On Saturday November 1st 2025 Rachel Portman will join Edith Bowman on the BBC 3 radio show 'Sound of Cinema', broadcast at 16:00 UTC.
Edith Bowman is the new presenter of Sound of Cinema, BBC's flagship programme celebrating film music. Her debut show on 1 November includes an exclusive conversation with Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman, with future guests set to include Alan Silvestri, Dame Emma Thompson and Graham Norton.
Edith said: “Film and music are two of my passions that I’m very lucky to enthuse about in my work. I’m excited to add Sound of Cinema to that, and to share so much incredible music with the audience.”