Kew Gardens’ Blossom Trails Get a Soundtrack This Spring
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew teams up with the Royal College of Music for a season of cherry blossom and site-specific sound.
Spring at Kew has its own calendar. First magnolia. Then cherry. From Saturday 14 March to Monday 6 April 2026, Sounds of Blossom returns, adding another layer to the Gardens’ most anticipated moment of the year: new music written in direct response to the landscape itself.
The project is a collaboration between the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Royal College of Music. Seven student composers have created original works, installed at key blossom sites across the Gardens. The pieces are not played from a central stage. They sit in place. You encounter them while walking.
Cherry Walk and Asano Avenue — already dense with colour by mid-March — carry music designed to move with the footfall. Near the Temperate House, clouds of blossom are paired with restrained, looping compositions. On Princess Walk, where magnolias arrive in soft pastels, the soundscape slows again.
Elsewhere, the Japanese Landscape features the great white cherry (Prunus ‘Taihaku’), a tree once believed extinct until the 1920s. Here, music marks both fragility and survival — themes the composers were asked to respond to directly.
Live performances take place at weekends. Small chamber groups appear across the Gardens rather than on a fixed programme, offering short recitals that visitors can join — or pass by. It’s informal. Nothing requires sitting still.
There are practical pleasures too. A blossom-themed afternoon tea runs throughout the festival at The Botanical Brasserie, with advance booking advised, particularly around Mother’s Day and Easter weekend.
Entry to Sounds of Blossom is included with standard Kew Gardens admission. Tickets are best booked in advance via kew.org. £1 entry is available for recipients of Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Asylum Applicants with a valid ARC card and selected legacy benefits.
Live weekend recitals
- 14–15 March: Roselle String Quartet
- 21–22 March: Ormonde Wind Quintet
- 28–29 March: Cordelia String Quartet
- 3–4 April: Versa Winds
- 5–6 April: Levanto Wind Trio
Where: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, London
When: Saturday 14 March – Monday 6 April 2026
Booking: Entry included with Kew Gardens ticket | Advance booking via kew.org
You might also like: Orchids 2026 at Kew
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
