Elizabeth Kenny

Elizabeth Kenny is one of Europe’s leading lute players. Her playing has been described as “incandescent” (Music and Vision), “radical” (The Independent) and “indecently beautiful” (Toronto Post). She has played with many of the world’s best period instrument groups and experienced many different approaches to music making. She has an extensive discography of collaborations with ensembles across Europe and the USA, and her own repertoire interests have led to critically acclaimed recordings of solo music from the ML Lute Book, and songs by Lawes, Purcell and Dowland.

This season she performs at Temple Music, Oxford Song, Wigmore Hall, Leeds Song, Early Music in Yorkshire, and her programme ‘Cubaroque’ with Nicholas Mulroy and Toby Carr at Festival van Vlaanderen Antwerpen and also Cambridge Early Music Festival, which features music from both 17th century Europe and 20th century Latin America.

In recent seasons, Elizabeth has performed a series of concerts with the Benedetti Baroque Orchestra, coinciding with a Decca Classics album release, and has performed at numerous festivals including: the BBC Proms in Scotland, Oxford International Song, Bath BachFest, Shakespeare in Music, Petworth, Beverley Early Music, Cambridge Summer Music, LIFE Victoria in Barcelona, Chiltern Arts, Winchester Chamber Music, Salisbury International Arts, Tetbury Music, Spitalfields Music, London International Festival of Early Music, the Trigonale Festival der Alten Musik in Austria, Britten Pears Arts, Ludlow English Song Weekend, Newbury Spring, Lammermuir, and she has continued her collaboration with Isabelle Faust, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Kristin von der Goltz in a programme of Bach, Biber and Westhoff across Europe.

Updated September 2025