Dowland, Purcell and Campion for Free in London This Wednesday

Free lunchtime Baroque concert this Wednesday is your first chance to hear the ensemble bringing Handel's most queer opera to London this autumn

Ana Torbica and New Trinity Baroque perform Dowland, Purcell and Campion at St George's Hanover Square on 27 May. Free, 50 minutes, no booking required.

New Trinity Baroque are bringing Handel's Giulio Cesare in Egitto to Grimeborn Opera Festival at the Arcola Theatre in September 2026. Giulio Cesare is one of the most gender-fluid, theatrically daring works in the Baroque canon. Written for castrati, full of cross-dressing, disguise and desire, and endlessly reimagined by queer directors for exactly those reasons. If you want to know what this ensemble sounds like before September, Wednesday lunchtime is your chance.

From Sorrow to Peace is a free 50-minute recital at St George's Hanover Square, W1, starting at 1:10pm. Soprano Ana Torbica and lutenist Michael Fields perform Dowland, Purcell and Campion. Predrag Gosta narrates between pieces. He founded New Trinity Baroque and is completing doctoral research at Oxford. The programme moves through five sections from love's awakening to sorrow to renewal, built around the 400th anniversary of John Dowland's death.

Torbica trained at the Royal Academy of Music, holds the Christopher Hogwood Scholarship, and has studied lute songs with Dame Emma Kirkby. She has performed with the Irish Baroque Orchestra, London Handel Players and Charivari Agréable, and teaches at the Guildhall Young Artists programme and the Junior Academy at RAM. Fields directed Finland's Sastamala Gregoriana festival for 30 years. Between them, this is not a pickup ensemble.

Free. No booking required. Register on Eventbrite for a reminder if you want one.

Wednesday 27 May, 1:10pm to 2pm, St George's Hanover Square, St George Street, W1.