The London International Festival of Early Music is one of the largest and most inclusive early music festivals in the world. The festival began in 1973 and was first hosted at the Royal College of Music. The event moved to the Royal Horticultural Halls, and Greenwich, before finally finding its home at Blackheath Halls, in London’s oldest surviving purpose-built cultural venue.
The festival attracts a network of vibrant artists, early music enthusiasts and supporters. At the heart of the festival is our world-famous early music exhibition. More than 70 exhibitors come from all around the globe to exhibit; makers, publishers and early music societies gather for the three-day event. It’s a hub of early-music activity with makers, professionals, amateurs and early-music lovers being able to share their knowledge and learn the newest and most exciting developments in the early music world. Exhibited instruments include (and are not limited to!) recorders; baroque and renaissance winds (flutes, crumhorns, cornamusen, bassoons, oboes, rackets, shawms, gemshorns, pipes); early brass (cornetti, trumpets, sackbuts, serpents); early bowed strings (viola da gambas, baroque violins, baroque violas, baroque cellos, violones); early plucked strings (lutes, chittarones, theorbos, guitars, mandolins, viheluas, harps, lyres); early keyboards (spinets, harpsichords, fortepianos, clavichords, organs) and an array of early percussion instruments.
In addition to the exhibition, LIFEM welcomes international, world-class artists to perform at the festival each year. Recent artists and ensembles have included Solomon’s Knot, Fretwork, Mahan Esfahani, Elizabeth Kenny, Lucy Crowe and Erik Bosgraaf to name but a few.
LIFEM wouldn’t be complete as a festival without its programme of performance platforms, makers’ demonstration recitals, workshops, talks and our new initiative since 2021, Festival evensong. LIFEM also hosts two biennial competitions running in alternate years; The Early Music Shop Young Ensemble Competition and the Moeck/Society of Recorder Players’ Solo Recorder Competition.
Festival Pass Ticket
Includes admission to all LIFEM 2024 events, including the three-day exhibition, full concert programme, workshops and makers’ demonstration recitals, Performers’ Platforms, Young Ensemble Competition and Festival Evensong.
Please note that a festival pass guarantees you access to all events, therefore it is not necessary to book or reserve additional tickets.
Artistic Director Erik Bosgraaf