Event Date: Wed - 15 Jul 2026 - Sat - 18 Jul 2026

Event Time: 6:00 pm - 9:15 pm

Location: St Anne's Church and St Michael's Church, Lewes

Price: £18-£30

Lewes Baroquefest takes place from Wednesday 15 – Saturday 18 July 2026 with six concerts in the historic churches of St Anne’s and St Michael’s in Lewes, East Sussex. Artistic directors Julia Bishop and John Hancorn have put together a lively and varied programme.

Countertenor Charles Humphries joins Julia Bishop and harpsichordist David Wright for baroque arias by J S Bach and Handel. Jean Kelly will showcase the Bray Harp, with its distinctive buzzing, and the Celtic Harp with music from the cloister to the dance floor. String quartets by Henry Purcell and his teacher John Blow feature in our concert with Baroque Collective regulars Alison Bury and Julia Bishop, violins, Annette Isserlis, viola, and Catherine Rimer, cello. Tenor Hugo Hymas, soprano Charlotte la Thrope and lutenist Kristiina Watt trace the expressive range of early song from private melancholy to courtly elegance. And Flauguissimo - flautist Yu-Wei Hu and theorbo/guitarist Johan Löfving - present a spirited and diverse programme.

This year’s 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, with soprano Elspeth Pigott as Galatea and tenor Joseph Taylor as Damon, conducted by John Hancorn with the Baroque Collective and Baroque Collective Singers.

Tickets £18-£30
Lewesbaroquefest.org