LIFEM announces its 2026 festival programme
The London International Festival of Early Music (LIFEM) returns to Blackheath in Southeast London between 11 and 14 November 2026 (Wednesday to Saturday), with four days of concerts, the biennial Young Ensemble Competition final, and their popular annual exhibition. Renowned as one of the largest and most inclusive festivals of historically informed performance in the world and for championing rising talent alongside established artists, this year's programme is no exception.
The 2026 edition opens with Ensemble Inventio's programme, 'La Margarita' (11 Nov), in which the improvising Renaissance wind band led by Ian Harrison performs music from the court of Marguerite of Austria on shawm, cornett and other historical winds.
Thursday sees the start of the LIFEM Early Music Exhibition (12-14 Nov), with more than 70 international exhibitors, instrument makers and publishers displaying their products until the end of the festival. The life of John Dowland is also celebrated with two concerts: In 'The Beginning of the World', eminent lutenist Nigel North brings Tudor dances, dumps and divisions by Byrd, Johnson and Philips to an 8-course lute after Venere, freshly returned to Europe after 25 years at Indiana University's Historical Performance Institute (12 Nov, 14:00). The evening concert sees Laurence Dreyfus's Gramophone Award-winning viol consort, Phantasm, reuniting with celebrated lutenist Elizabeth Kenny for Dowland's Lachrimae, or Seven Tears (12 Nov, 19:30).
Friday, the festival's busiest day, opens at lunchtime with last year's Moeck/SRP Solo Recorder Competition winner, recorder player Eun Sol Lee, in a nocturnal-themed programme, 'Bamsæ – Overnight' (13 Nov, 13:00). Mid-afternoon sees the 2026 LIFEM Early Music Young Ensemble Competition Final at Blackheath Halls' Hearn Recital Room, judged this year by Erik Bosgraaf, Tomoe Badiarova and Jane Chapman. The day closes with L'Artefice's programme, 'Capriccio et Invenzione' (13 Nov, 19:30), pairing nyckelharpa, bass viol and harp in 'lavishly ornamented elaborations of vocal pieces and intricate variations based on popular melodies'.
LIFEM's free Festival Evensong returns on the final day, sung by the Choir of All Saints Church, Fulham, with music by Schütz, Buxtehude, Eccard and Heinichen (14 Nov, 15:00), before the festival closes in style with Artistic Director Erik Bosgraaf and the Riga-based Baltic Baroque Orchestra performing all four of JS Bach's Orchestral Suites (14 Nov, 18:00).
Concert tickets can be purchased individually, and entry to both the Exhibition and Festival Evensong is free. Festival, day, and weekend passes are also available for those wanting to catch multiple events, with prices starting at £35. Full listings and booking details can be found on the LIFEM's festival profile.
Cover image: Erik Bosgraaf (photo courtesy of LIFEM)
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