Artists

Biography:

Founded by Trevor Pinnock in 1973, The English Concert is among the world’s most famous chamber orchestras. For over thirty years it has been critically acclaimed in concert on four continents and in over 120 recordings of Baroque and Classical instrumental and vocal music, many with internationally renowned soloists.

Under Andrew Manze’s inspired leadership since 2003, the orchestra has been described as having ‘spontaneous freshness, exhilaration, sharpness of detail and sheer fun’. Audiences around the world have responded enthusiastically to his distinctive mixture of informality with serious musical aims, which breathes new life into well known masterpieces and little known repertoire.

The English Concert performs regularly in London, at the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the South Bank Centre, at St George’s Bristol and at many UK festivals, including the BBC Proms. The orchestra continues to be in great demand internationally, with recent US, Australia and Far East tours and European engagements in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Spain. Plans include return visits to the US and to many European and UK venues and festivals.

A new series of recordings with Harmonia Mundi USA has been particularly successful, including Vivaldi’s seven concertos ‘for the Holy Roman Emperor’, a landmark recording of the recently discovered Mass by Heinrich Biber, Missa Christi resurgentis, and a recording of Mozart Violin Concertos that has received critical plaudits. Next year the fifth in the series will be released, featuring the music of C P E Bach.