TEN OF THE BEST | November 2026

From Dowland at his most melancholy to Monteverdi at his most theatrical, November is a month of big contrasts. There are starry visitors, rediscovered voices, music born out of civil war and state ceremony – and an 18th-century bagpipe or two – not to mention concerts at Wimbledon International Music Festival and four days of exceptional Early Music and exhibitions at LIFEM 2026. Here are ten picks from Continuo Connect, plus our monthly Wildcard.

View hundreds of upcoming Early Music concerts in the UK by visiting the Continuo Connect What's On page.

RAUTIO TRIO: PATRONAGE AND INFLUENCE
4 Nov (London) | 15 Nov (Hastings) | 22 Nov (London) 🎟️ BOOK NOW
Supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation ⭐

Aristocratic heritage and influence were key to the musical world of 18th-century Vienna, and the critically acclaimed Rautio Piano Trio's latest programme explores the people, places and connections behind the music of the Classical era. At its heart is composer, singer and keyboard player Marianne Martines alongside piano trios by Haydn and Beethoven.

THE DUKE’S CONSORT: THE SOLITARY CITY
6 November | Exeter College, Oxford 🎟️ BOOK NOW

What happens to music when a country tears itself apart? The young Duke’s Consort turns to the English Civil Wars, threading music by William Lawes, Matthew Locke, Pelham Humfrey and Purcell through letters and poetry from the period. History brought close enough to touch – and tickets start at just £7.

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF HANDEL HOUSE
10 November | St George's Hanover Square, London 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Featuring world-class Handelians The Brook Street Band and London Handel Players alongside acclaimed mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, this special anniversary concert celebrates Handel, his music and the remarkable legacy of his life at 25 Brook Street.

ECHO VOCAL ENSEMBLE: COZZOLANI UNBOUND!
13 November | Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge (part of Cambridge Early Music) 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Nun, singer, composer – and a contemporary of Monteverdi whose music deserves to be far better known. Sarah Latto and Echo Vocal Ensemble open up the remarkable world of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, from intimate sacred dialogues to the dramatic sweep of her 1650 Vespers music. A voice from behind convent walls that refuses to stay confined.

LEEDS BAROQUE: MUSIC FOR STATE OCCASIONS
15 November | University of Leeds 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Coronations, victories and funerals: music has long supplied the soundtrack to public power. Leeds Baroque marks founder Peter Holman’s 80th birthday with Locke, Blow, Purcell, Croft, Boyce and Handel – including Zadok the Priest and Croft’s extraordinarily durable Burial Service. A fitting celebration of one of the scholar-performers who helped transform our understanding of Early Music.

BAROQUE IN THE NORTH: REVIVING PAST SOUNDS
18 November | Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester | FREE 🎟️ BOOK NOW
Supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation ⭐

From archive to concert platform – with a musette along the way. Baroque in the North launches its new album Friends in High Places with music that has gone unheard for centuries and a discussion with RNCM researchers about bringing forgotten repertoire back to life. The musette, incidentally, is a particularly delicate species of 18th-century bagpipe.

BELLOT ENSEMBLE: HEROINES OF THE SEICENTO
20 November | Firth Hall, Sheffield 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Bellot Ensemble, Radio 3’s New Generation Baroque Ensemble, puts women centre stage in 17th-century Italy. With soprano Mariana Rodrigues, it moves from scenes from Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero to music by Barbara Strozzi, Antonia Bembo, Lucia Quinciani, Francesca Campana and Isabella Leonarda. Rare repertoire, rising artists – and a welcome trip to hear quality Early Music in Sheffield.

GABRIELI ROAR: MR HANDEL’S CHRISTMAS STORY
24 November | Exeter Cathedral 🎟️ BOOK NOW
Supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation ⭐

Handel, reassembled for Christmas. Paul McCreesh draws on Messiah and other oratorios to create a new telling of the Christmas story, bringing Gabrieli's professional singers and Baroque orchestra together with young voices from across Devon. The wider project involves 6,000 young singers in 11 cities – an Early Music project conceived on an unusually ambitious scale. View all performances nationwide on our What's On page.

JAKUB JÓZEF ORLIŃSKI SINGS PERGOLESI
26 November 20:30 (18:30 sold out) | Smith Square Hall, London 🎟️ BOOK NOW

The final few tickets remain to enjoy one of the world’s most charismatic countertenors performing one of the 18th century’s most affecting sacred works. In a UK-exclusive appearance, Jakub Józef Orliński joins soprano Madison Nonoa and il Pomo d’Oro for two performances of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. The surrounding programme stretches intriguingly from Trabaci and de Macque to Greek traditional song and Arvo Pärt.

APOLLO’S FIRE & JEANINE DE BIQUE: ECHOES ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
28 November | Barbican Hall, London 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Baroque Europe meets the colonial Caribbean in a programme with uncomfortable history behind its exuberant surface. Jeannette Sorrell’s Apollo’s Fire and Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique place Handel, Purcell, Rameau and Vivaldi alongside Caribbean poetry and music, tracing connections between European palaces and Caribbean plantations. A concert that promises to make familiar repertoire sound rather different.

NOVEMBER’S WILDCARD | MUSICA ANTICA ROTHERHITHE: APOLLON ET ORPHÉE
28 November | Holy Trinity, Rotherhithe | £2–£10 🎟️ BOOK NOW

Du Fay, Binchois – and humming. Musica Antica Rotherhithe uses 15th-century evidence to recreate the sound-world of the chanson, with singers accompanying themselves on vielle, lute and keyboard and, more unexpectedly, supplying hummed accompaniments. There’s also a church bar serving Holy Trinity’s fruit gins. Scholarly, intimate, inexpensive and just eccentric enough to be our November Wildcard.

Want to stay up to date with the latest from the UK Early Music sector? Sign up for our fortnightly newsletter to get the latest concert recommendations, festival updates, artist profiles and more delivered straight to your inbox. Cover photo: St George's, Hanover Square.