English Chamber Orchestra

Last updated

English Chamber Orchestra
Orchestra
CS2 3811-CR3 DxO DeepPRIME-10.jpg
Founded1948
Concert hall Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall
Music directorStephanie Gonley
Website www.englishchamberorchestra.co.uk

The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. With a limited performance size, the orchestra specializes in 18th-century music and was created to perform Baroque Music. [1] The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationally, and holds the distinction of having the most extensive discography of any chamber orchestra and being the most well-traveled orchestra in the world; no other orchestra has played concerts (as of 2013, according to its own publicity) in as many countries as the English Chamber Orchestra. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

The English Chamber Orchestra has its origins in the Goldsbrough Orchestra, founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard and Arnold Goldsbrough. The group took its current name in 1960, when it expanded its repertoire beyond the Baroque period for the first time. Its repertoire remained limited by the group's size, which has stayed fairly consistently at around the size of an orchestra of Mozart's time.

Shortly afterwards, it became closely associated with the Aldeburgh Festival, playing in the premieres of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), Owen Wingrave (1970), Curlew River and several other of his works. The occasions on which Britten conducted the orchestra included the opening concerts of the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Snape Maltings in 1967. [5] He also made a number of records with the group.

The orchestra did not at this time have a principal conductor, but worked closely with a succession of guest conductors including Raymond Leppard, Colin Davis and Daniel Barenboim. In 1985 Jeffrey Tate was appointed the ensemble's first principal conductor. In 2000, Ralf Gothóni was appointed second principal conductor.

In June 2009, the English Chamber Orchestra named Paul Watkins its new music director, effective with the 2009–2010 season, for an initial contract of three years. [6] The orchestra has also worked regularly with guest conductors Paul Goodwin, Lawrence Power and James Sherlock. In 2023, the orchestra appointed Roberto Forés Veses as Principal Guest Conductor. Having led the orchestra for over 30 years, Stephanie Gonley was recognised as Leader and Principal of the English Chamber Orchestra in 2023.

Tours and performances

The orchestra has performed with and toured the UK and abroad with artists such as Kathleen Battle, Benjamin Britten, Daniel Barenboim, Dame Janet Baker, Colin Davis, Placido Domingo, Jacqueline du Pre, Sumi Jo, Kiri te Kanawa, Yehudi Menuhin, Luciano Pavarotti, Murray Perahia, Itzhak Perlman, Andre Previn, Karl Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Georg Solti, Joan Sutherland, Mitsuko Uchida, Maxim Vengerov and Pinchas Zukerman. Recent tours have included Bermuda, USA, Mexico, Finland, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

HRH the former Prince of Wales has been the Patron of the ECO since 1977 and the orchestra has performed at royal weddings, birthday celebrations and other events including the first concert ever to be broadcast from Buckingham Palace.

In 2023 members of the orchestra were selected to play at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla. [7]

Select recordings

Concertos

Symphonies

Opera, Cantatas, Songs and Arias

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergiu Celibidache</span> Romanian conductor (1912–1996)

Sergiu Celibidache was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra and several other European orchestras. Later in life, he taught at Mainz University in Germany and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Karl Richter was a German conductor, choirmaster, organist, and harpsichordist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elly Ameling</span> Dutch soprano

Elisabeth Sara "Elly" Ameling is a Dutch soprano, who is particularly known for lieder recitals and for performing works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Performing with distinguished pianists and ensembles around the globe, she was awarded various honours and recording prizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shlomo Mintz</span> Israeli violin virtuoso, violist and conductor

Shlomo Mintz is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violinist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.

Margaret Anne Marshall OBE is a Scottish soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Tate</span> English conductor

Sir Jeffrey Philip Tate was an English conductor of classical music. Tate was born with spina bifida and had an associated spinal curvature. After studying medicine at the University of Cambridge and beginning a medical career in London, he switched to music and worked under Georg Solti at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, before making his conducting debut in 1979 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He held conducting appointments with the English Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, among others, and was the first person to be appointed principal conductor of the Royal Opera House. He was knighted for his services to music in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albrecht Mayer</span>

Albrecht Mayer is a German classical oboist and conductor. The principal oboist of the Berlin Philharmonic, he is internationally known as a soloist and chamber musician and has made many recordings.

The Zurich Chamber Orchestra is a Swiss chamber orchestra based in Zurich. The ZKO's principal concert venue in Zurich is the Tonhalle. The ZKO also performs in Zurich at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, the ZKO-Haus in the Seefeld quarter of the city, and such churches as the Fraumünster and the Kirche St. Peter. The ZKO presents approximately 40 performances in Zurich each year, in addition to approximately 40 children's concerts and performances elsewhere in Switzerland and abroad. In the 2016–2017, season the total number of concerts was151, a record for the ZKO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Batiashvili</span> Georgian musician (born 1979)

Elisabeth Batiashvili, professionally known as Lisa Batiashvili, is a prominent Georgian violinist active across Europe and the United States. A former New York Philharmonic artist-in-residence, she is acclaimed for her "natural elegance, silky sound and the meticulous grace of her articulation". Batiashvili makes frequent appearances at high-profile international events; she was the violin soloist at the 2018 Nobel Prize concert.

Judith Blegen is an American soprano, particularly associated with light lyric roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">René Pape</span> German operatic bass singer

René Pape is a German operatic bass. Pape has received two Grammys, was named "Vocalist of the Year" by Musical America in 2002, "Artist of the Year" by the German opera critics in 2006, and won an ECHO award in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Mathis</span> Swiss soprano

Edith Mathis is a Swiss soprano and a leading exponent of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart worldwide. She is known for parts in Mozart operas, but also took part in premieres of operas such as Henze's Der junge Lord.

The Grand Prix du Disque for Instrumental and Symphonic Music is awarded by the Académie Charles Cros, L'Abbaye, 02570 Chézy sur Marne, France. Categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards may be given in the same year in the same exact category. Instrumental and Symphonic music may include solo & orchestra (concerto) or pure symphonic music. Other subcategories have included classical symphonic music, contemporary symphonic music and modern concerto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)</span> Classical period work completed 1786

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat major, K. 495 was completed in 1786.

Ralph Henry Kirshbaum is an American cellist. His award-winning career combines the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viviane Hagner</span> German violinist

Viviane Hagner is a German violinist. She was born in Munich, Germany in 1977, to a German father and Korean mother. She is sister to Nicole Hagner, the pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yannick Nézet-Séguin</span> Canadian conductor and pianist

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.

Paul Kuentz is a French conductor who studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1947 to 1950, with Noël Gallon, Georges Hugon and Eugene Bigot.

The Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra was a German chamber orchestra, founded in 1969 in Berlin, dedicated to the music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his contemporaries.

The conductor Otto Klemperer made many recordings. The first table, below, shows his recordings from his first, in 1924, to 1954, the year in which he first recorded with the Philharmonia, which played on most of his subsequent recordings until his retirement in 1972.

References

  1. "English Chamber Orchestra - Bach, Handel, Telemann". Warner Classics. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. Archived May 18, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "English Chamber Orchestra - Bach, Handel, Telemann". Warner Classics. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  4. "English Chamber Orchestra / José Serebrier, conductor / Jennifer Pike, violin". The Journal of Music. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  5. "History: Britten and the ECO" . Retrieved 1 April 2018.
  6. Martin Cullingford, "Paul Watkins named ECO music director". Gramophone, 19 June 2009.
  7. "Buckingham Palace is pleased to announce further details of the twelve new compositions that have been written for the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May 2023". The Royal Family. 16 April 2023. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.