Belsize Baroque | London period instrument orchestra

Formed in 2002, Belsize Baroque is a leading amateur baroque orchestra. It comprises young professionals, students, and accomplished amateur baroque players. The orchestra performs on period instruments in an historically informed style. It collaborates regularly with leading baroque directors to give orchestral performances, and performs baroque and classical works with choral groups.

The orchestra showcases the abilities of talented college students and young professional musicians, providing these players with the opportunity to perform with top directors and an experienced baroque orchestra. It runs an annual scholarship programme.

Our next concert

Sunday 15 November

Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Franklin enjoys a diverse career as a soloist and ensemble singer. She is accomplished on the concert platform, where the work of Bach sits at the heart of her repertoire. Recently, she has performed a recital of Bach’s alto arias with London Bach Players and has been the soloist in performances of St John Passion (Konzertchor Darmstadt), St Matthew Passion (London Baroque Sinfonia), Christmas Oratorio (Oxford Bach Soloists) and Magnificat (Instruments of Time & Truth). She has also performed much of the standard concert repertoire for mezzo-soprano and alto, including Handel’s Messiah and Jephtha, Mozart’s Requiem and Copland’s In the beginning. Her recent operatic highlights include the Grandmother in the world premiere of Will Todd’s Angels on the Underground (The Sixteen/Harry Christophers) and Carlotta in Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi (New Chamber Opera/Steven Devine). Stephanie is an experienced ensemble musician and regularly performs internationally with ensembles including Arcangelo, The Sixteen, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the BBC Singers at major festivals such as the BBC Proms, Grange Festival Opera and Tanglewood Festival. Stephanie completed undergraduate and doctoral studies in music at Oxford, where she held choral and academic scholarships. She also enjoyed an extended research stint in Vienna. She has established her performance career alongside her academic pursuits.

Belfast-born baritone Malachy Frame divides his time between opera and concert work throughout the UK and Europe. Highlights of this season include appearances at the Wigmore Hall with Arcangelo and Solomon’s Knot, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Dunedin Consort, a tour of Handel with the Gabrieli Consort, Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Monteverdi Choir, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Early Opera Company, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Bristol Classical Players and Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet with Chelsea Opera Group. Malachy is also Artistic Director of early music ensemble Sestina Music, this season singing and directing programmes of Italian Madrigals, overseeing the group’s Next Generation Artists programme, and directing Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610.

Scottish tenor Archie Inns maintains a varied career across opera, oratorio, song and consort singing. He appears with ensembles including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Arcangelo, the Gabrieli Consort and Polyphony, and is a Fellow with The English Concert. Recent operatic roles include Lelio (Scipione; The English Concert), Prince Gvidon (The Golden Cockerel; Orchestra Vox), Alfred (Die Fledermaus; Westminster Opera Company), and roles in The Fairy Queen with Vache Baroque and the Gabrieli Consort. He has been an Emerging Artist with Westminster Opera Company, held the James Bowman Young Artistship at Vache Baroque, and is currently an Associate Artist with Oxford Opera. Archie is also a Josephine Baker Young Artist, an Oxford International Song Festival Young Artist and a Countess of Munster Recital Scheme artist. He is completing a Master’s in Vocal Performance at the Royal College of Music with Nicky Spence and Miranda Wright, supported by the Drapers’ de Turckheim Scholarship, London Women’s Clinic Foundation Award, Mason Award, Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Sir James Caird Trust, Elizabeth Izatt Trust and Kathleen Trust. He received the Sir James Caird Trust’s Wiseman Prize in both 2025 and 2026.

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