Early music festivals

Early music festivals are a generic term for musical festivals focused on music before Beethoven, or including historically informed performance of later works. The increase in the number of music festivals specializing in early music is a reflection of the early music revival of the 1970s and 1980s. Many larger festivals, such as the Aix-en-Provence Festival, also include early music sections, as do, inevitably, festivals of sacred music, such as the Festival de Música Sacra do Baixo Alentejo, in Portugal. Although most early music festivals are centered on commercial performance, many also include workshops.