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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.
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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.”
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On the 3rd of September 2025 soprano Alexandra Marie performed a program featuring works by women composers, spanning from the early twentieth century to the present. Part of this performance at the Southwest Regional Library-Pembroke Pines included a song by Rachel Portman titled 'There Will Be A Place', a composition that premiered in London on the 20th of January 2024 at a performance by soprano Lucy Crowe and pianist Anna Tilbrook. A recording of the performance by Alexandra Marie can be viewed here.
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On the 5th of September 2025 Sony Classical released the single "The Swallow" through streaming media. The 3:33 minute track is a reflective composition for piano and violin, and is played by Rachel Portman and Niklas Liepe. On release Rachel Portman commented "Every year I feel moved to see the first swallow arrive at the farm after its long arduous flight from sub-Saharan Africa. This song is written for the first swallow, chattering outside my window, waiting on the telegraph wire for a fellow one to join".
The new single is the fifth in a series of singles published in 2025, after "Hannah's Song" (February 28th), "Eventide" (April 10th), "Moment In Time" (May 16th) and "June" (June 27th). All songs are planned for release on a new upcoming album in 2026, in collaboration with instrumentalists Niklas Liepe and Martin Fröst.
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On Saturday September 13th 2025 at 17:00 Rachel Portman will join Jess Gillam in an episode of "This Classical Life" on BBC radio 3, to share some of her favourite music, on the same day her new work ‘The Gathering Tree’ receives its world premiere at the BBC Proms. Rachel's wide-ranging music choices include Handel, Steve Reich and Joni Mitchell. Jess has music from Tchaikovsky, the mysterious Italian baroque composer Bernardo Storace, and American saxophonist Eddie Barbash.
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On the 22nd of August 2025 Sony Classical released the album "Dolomites" by the LGT Young Soloists through streaming media. The album contains two new works, "Dolomites, Pale Mountains" composed by Rachel Portman, and "Concerto No. 2 for cello and string orchestra, "Klatbutne / Presence" composed by Pēteris Vasks.
"Dolomites, Pale Mountains" was commissioned by The Südtirol Festival Merano . Meran on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. The composition is inspired by four striking photographs of the Dolomites, captured by the renowned photographers Georg Tappeiner and Ursula Stingel. These images served as the creative foundation for the four-movement work, which translates the majestic stillness and sublime grandeur of this unique landscape into music. The piece forms the centerpiece of the anniversary program and will celebrate its world premiere at the Südtirol Festival Merano on the 27th of August 2025.