The Ensemble

Les Acolytes is a chamber ensemble formed by four friends with a shared passion for early music, particularly the French Baroque and its sphere of influence. We perform on period instruments and 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, we explore the stylistic influences exchanged between France and its neighbouring countries throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Founded in 2025, the group gave its debut performance in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Camilla Seale. Since then, we 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, where we performed and received coaching from Professor Ashley Solomon. In May 2026, we were selected as Emerging Artists for Brighton Early Music Festival’s 2026/27 season.

Our members 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.

Our members are also involved in academic research and education. All four of us 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.

We are grateful for the support of the Susan J Smith Fund for Music Performance.