London Early Opera are leading exponents of baroque research as they work closely with musicologists, historians, editors and researchers finding new interesting programmes, unrecorded music which feature detailed historical performance practice.

LEO link dramatic music and singing with narration and art history to create magical performances in their oratorio and concert performances.

They have recently recorded discs of Handel at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and Handel in Italy with multi Grammy winning producer Chris Alder and singers Sophie, Mary and Ben Bevan, Eleanor Dennis, Greg Tassell, Kirsty Hopkins, Claire Bessent, Charles MacDougal.

The group is directed by harpsichordist, conductor and early music specialist Bridget Cunningham and they have performed to acclaim at several major venues including Southwark Cathedral, Grosvenor Chapel and St James’ Church, Piccadilly and across France.

London Early Opera offers concerts, operas, educational workshops, lecture recitals and recordings and collaborate on other projects such as their recent recording of George Butterworth.

Bridget Cunningham is an international conductor, prizewinning harpsichordist and musicologist who trained at the Royal College of Music and was awarded a Junior Fellowship to work in the Centre for Performance History and coach singers in the baroque style.

As Artistic Director of London Early Opera, Cunningham is creating, researching and conducting an ongoing series of Handel recordings with Signum Classics exploring Handel the man, his music and his travels to capture musical snapshots of moments in his life. These new CDs are being released worldwide and include Handel in Italy Vol.1 & Vol.2, Handel in Ireland Vol.1 and Handel at Vauxhall Vol.1 & Vol.2 and handel’s Queens;

“Handel has never sounded better” BBC Music Magazine 5 Stars, October 2019

Her solo harpsichord performances include playing for Prince Charles and the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, Maison Hine and Château de Hautefort in France, the London Handel Festival and a broadcast on Austria’s National Radio Stephansdom with pianist Angela Hewitt. She coaches The Handelians from London Early Opera and collaborates with the Schola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi and baroque dance groups including Mercurius Company and Les Plaisirs Des Nations performing with them at Yale University. She also gives lecture recitals and concerts at Art Galleries including the opening of ‘Watteau: The Drawings Exhibition’ at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Cunningham is a versatile conductor and harpsichordist and has performed at several prestigious venues and festivals including the Opera house Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, Yale University’s Center for British Art America and recently conducted Handel’s Semele, Bach’s Easter Oratorio and also Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Serenade, Haydn Harpsichord and Violin Concerto and Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen in a Romantic and Gipsy programme at St Martin-in-the Fields, London for the Music of the Spheres Ensemble. She also directed a world premiere with London Early Opera written by Grace Evangeline-Mason commissioned by the BBC to celebrate the 300th Anniversary of Handel’s Water Music – broadcast live on the River Thames. Other broadcasts include BBC 2 Messiah, BBC 4 Vivaldi’s Women, Radio 4 Front Row and Radio 3 In Tune, SkyArts, RTE, RTP and a short film for Handel and Hendrix in London.