The Baroque Collective Singers present large-scale baroque concerts with our professional baroque orchestra The Baroque Collective in intimate venues in the heart of our local community in Lewes, East Sussex. We work with international soloists and nurture young professional singers, and perform at the highest level. These concerts need extra funding to enable us to pay our wonderful professional musicians and soloists.

Noble Hearts: Arias and instrumental works from the great 17th & 18th century masters Charles Humphries - counter tenor Julia Bishop - violin David Wright - keyboards Come and hear arias and instrumental works from the great 17th and 18th century masters Purcell, Bach and Handel. To include Purcell’s beautiful Music for a While, a Bach violin sonata, unaccompanied solo violin work and solo keyboard work, and Handel’s famous arias Ombra mai fu from his opera Xerxes and Verdi Prati from Alcina.

Save £15 with a Chamber Music Pass. This ticket is valid for all five Chamber Music Concerts at St Anne's Church in Lewes on Wednesday 15, Thursday 16 and Friday 17 July 2026: Wednesday 15 July 6pm: Noble Hearts: Charles Humphries (countertenor), Julia Bishop (violin), David Wright (harpsichord): Baroque Arias by Bach & Handel 8pm: My Gentle Harp: Jean Kelly (Bray harp & Celtic harp) Thursday 16 July 6pm: The London Theatre Restor'd: Alison Bury (violin), Julia Bishop (violin), Annette Isserlis (viola), Catherine Rimer (cello): String Quartets by Purcell, Locke and Blow 8pm: Come, Heavy Sleep: Hugo Hymas (tenor), Charlotte la Thrope (soprano): Lute Song Friday 16 July 7pm: From Whisper to Thunder: Flauguissimo Duo: Yu-Wei Hu (flute), Johan Löfving (guitar)

Performing on both the Bray Harp with its distinctive buzzing sounds and the soothing tones of the Celtic Harp, Jean Kelly will weave the story of the harp through the centuries from the cloister to the dance floor including music by medieval Abbess Hildegard Von Bingen, Irish harper Turlough Carolan and ‘Baroque Flamenco’ by Deborah Henson Conant. “Elegant, stylish and deliciously nuanced playing.” Irish Independent

Incidental music for plays by the great English composers of the 17th century. Alison Bury & Julia Bishop, violins Annette Isserlis, viola Catherine Rimer, cello Suites and Fantasias by Purcell, Locke and Blow. After the Restoration of 1660, London theatres reopened, becoming wildly popular in reaction to the years of closure under Cromwell. Purcell composed incidental music for many new plays, as well as for his ‘semi-operas’ such as King Arthur and The Fairy Queen. The programme also features Locke’s quirky music for The Tempest and a suite from Blow’s opera, Venus and Adonis.

Charlotte la Thrope, soprano Hugo Hymas, tenor This intimate concert explores the rich lute song traditions of England and France at the turn of the seventeenth century. Soprano Charlotte La Thrope and tenor Hugo Hymas, accompanied by a lutenist, present a programme centred on themes of love and longing, bringing together works by Dowland and Monteverdi with rarely heard airs de cour by Ambruys and Lambert. Moving seamlessly from private melancholy to courtly elegance, the performance is given in a historically informed style within an atmospheric setting that reflects the intimacy of this repertoire.

Thespian tastes in 18th century Europe Join Flauguissimo Duo (Johan Löfving and Yu-Wei Hu) on an emotional journey across 18th-century Europe. From the stylized grandeur of Couperin to the virtuosic brilliance of Roman and Handel, Flauguissimo invites you to share in a wide range of Baroque passions. Together they unite the sounds of the baroque flute and theorbo in a truly unique way, allowing intimacy and spectacle to meet in a single breath!

Our Festival Finale, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, is one of Handel’s most popular dramatic masques. A pastoral delight with a dark thread of drama, this charming tale of good versus bad features two lovers and evil cyclops Polyphemus. Highlights include a virtuosic recorder part in the famous aria 'O ruddier than the cherry'. Star tenor Nick Pritchard will play hero Acis with baritone Andrew Davies as wicked Polyphemus and soprano Elspeth Pigott as Galatea, conducted by John Hancorn with the Baroque Collective and Baroque Collective Singers. Handel: Acis & Galatea Galatea: Elspeth Piggott, soprano Acis: Nick Pritchard, tenor Polyphemus: Andrew Davies, baritone The Baroque Collective Singers The Baroque Collective John Hancorn, conductor