Early music festivals is 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 that an
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 include also workshops. This articles includes an
incomplete list of early music festivals, which may overlap with topics such as
list of Bach festivals,
list of maritime music festivals,
list of opera festivals, and in some cases
list of folk festivals.