The English Concert

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The English Concert - a British baroque orchestra based in London, founded by the harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock in 1973, and since 2003 led by the baroque violinist Andrew Manze. From September 2007 the Artistic Director will be Harry Bicket.

Simon Standage was the first violin from 1972-1991; followed by Peter Hanson; followed by Rachel Podger; followed by Andrew Manze, who now directs from the violin.

The English Concert is among the world’s most distinguished chamber orchestras. For more than thirty years it has been critically acclaimed in concert on four continents and in over 120 recordings of Baroque and Classical music.

Under Andrew Manze’s leadership since 2003 the orchestra has built upon its outstanding reputation, attracting new audiences with a distinctive mixture of informality and serious musical aims, breathing new life into well-known masterpieces and little-known repertoire.

In the UK The English Concert continues to appear regularly at the major London venues, including the Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and South Bank Centre, while featuring nationally at concert series in Bristol, Bedford and Southampton, and in an extensive touring programme with a South West regional focus. Among the many UK festivals visited by The English Concert are Bath, Salisbury and the BBC Proms.

The orchestra continues to be in great demand internationally, with annual tours of the USA since 2004 and their début in Australia in 2005. In 2005-06 they visited Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Austria, Norway, Turkey, Poland, Switzerland and Hungary, in addition to the USA, while in 2006-07 they return to Belgium, Spain, the United States and make their début at the Ansbach, Rheingau and Schleswig-Holstein festivals in Germany.

Among the world’s most recorded orchestras, a new series of recordings with Andrew Manze for Harmonia Mundi USA has placed The English Concert once again at the top of the classical charts, with a Mozart CD Night Music, Vivaldi’s seven concertos ‘for the Holy Roman Emperor’ and a landmark recording of the recently discovered Mass by Heinrich Biber, Missa Christi resurgentis. Their most recent release, Mozart Violin Concertos, has received critical plaudits, while their next, of C P E Bach orchestral works, is eagerly awaited.

The English Concert continues to provide a benchmark for the authoritative performance of Baroque and Classical music, both with its artistic director Andrew Manze and with the distinguished guest conductors and soloists with whom it works.

See Trevor Pinnock for a list of recordings made while he was the director.