The festival was founded in 1973 and initially took place at the
Royal College of Music before moving to the
Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and taking on the name Greenwich Early Music Festival. Each year, the Festival invites performers and exhibitors from across the world to perform concerts and exhibit their goods. As well as Baroque music, LIFEM commissions new works for performance by the visiting ensembles (in 2020, they commissioned
John Paul Jones to write
The Tudor Pull for Fretwork). The festival has been known by several names in its history. It operated as the Greenwich Early Music Festival until 2016, when it made what was expected to be a temporary move to Blackheath. Throughout its history it has had a close relationship with
The Early Music Shop, which supports and runs the Festival. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 a series of recorded concerts under the name LIFEM: Digital replaced in-person events. The festival also became a registered charity in 2020, and appointed its first artistic director, Gill Graham. The trustees are Susannah Simons, Tony Millyard, Caro Barnfield and Chris Butler. == Competitions ==