Les Acolytes
Founded in 2025, Les Acolytes gave its debut performance in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Camilla Seale. Since then, they have performed at Girton College, Cambridge and London’s Savile Club, and taken part in the New Generation Baroque Ensemble Development Day, co-presented by BBC Radio 3, the National Centre for Early Music and the Royal College of Music.
In May 2026, Les Acolytes were selected as Emerging Artists for Brighton Early Music Festival’s 2026/27 season.
Individually, they enjoy varied careers in historical, chamber and orchestral performance, working with ensembles including the Hanover Band, Irish Baroque Orchestra, La Serenissima, Manchester Baroque, Fretwork, the Hallé, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia.
They are also passionate about musicological research and education. All four members are teachers; two coach and supervise students at Cambridge and Oxford, while members have contributed to education and outreach projects with the Hallé, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Alongside our future performances, we are developing projects to introduce young musicians across the North of England to French Baroque style and the methods of historically informed performance.
The ensemble is grateful for the support of the Susan J Smith Fund for Music Performance.
Musicians:
Andrew Taheny - violin
Billy Hui - traverso
Timothy Lin - viola da gamba
Edward Campbell-Rowntree - harpsichord
Biography
Les Acolytes is a chamber ensemble formed by four musicians with a shared passionfor early music, particularly the French Baroque and its sphere of influence. Performing on period instruments, they seek to engage audiences by highlighting the fascinating historical context of this music, as well as its often-overlooked expressive power. Alongside music by French composers, they explore the stylistic influences exchanged between France and its neighbouring countries throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Founded in 2025, Les Acolytes gave its debut performance in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Camilla Seale. Since then, they have performed at Girton College, Cambridge and London’s Savile Club, and taken part in the New Generation Baroque Ensemble Development Day, co-presented by BBC Radio 3, the National Centre for Early Music and the Royal College of Music.
In May 2026, Les Acolytes were selected as Emerging Artists for Brighton Early Music Festival’s 2026/27 season.
Individually, they enjoy varied careers in historical, chamber and orchestral performance, working with ensembles including the Hanover Band, Irish Baroque Orchestra, La Serenissima, Manchester Baroque, Fretwork, the Hallé, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia.
They are also passionate about musicological research and education. All four members are teachers; two coach and supervise students at Cambridge and Oxford, while members have contributed to education and outreach projects with the Hallé, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Alongside our future performances, we are developing projects to introduce young musicians across the North of England to French Baroque style and the methods of historically informed performance.
The ensemble is grateful for the support of the Susan J Smith Fund for Music Performance.
Musicians:
Andrew Taheny - violin
Billy Hui - traverso
Timothy Lin - viola da gamba
Edward Campbell-Rowntree - harpsichord
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