Author: Andrea Kerner

Concerto Copenhagen presents J. S. Bach’s six organ trio sonatas in a completely new, abundantly colourful orchestration, inspired by the Brandenburg Concertos. In close collaboration with the orchestra’s musicians and artistic director Lars Ulrik Mortensen, oboist Antoine Torunczyk has reimagined these works—with instruments such as the traverso, recorder, oboe d’amore, oboe da caccia, viola d’amore, natural horn, violoncello da spalla, and bassoon. The result is a sonic universe that renders Bach’s music both familiar and strikingly new.

26 March 2026, Internationales Bachfest Stuttgart
NEW BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS
Concerto Copenhagen / Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor
J. S. Bach: Trio sonatas 1 – 6, BWV 525 – 2530, arr. Antoine Torunczyk

In March, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe is invited to Athens, where it will perform Beethoven’s piano concertos over two days with Kirill Gerstein. What makes this two-day residency particularly special is that Gerstein is including Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 0 in the cycle. Before there was a “No. 1,” there was effectively a “No. 0,” written by the young Beethoven around 1785, at the age of 13 or 14. This work predates his officially numbered piano concertos and clearly shows the influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was never published during Beethoven’s lifetime, and he himself did not assign it a number. It was only published posthumously in the catalogue as WoO 4 (“Werk ohne Opuszahl” — work without opus number).

For the COE, the performance of this partially surviving work marks a premiere.

18 & 19 March 2026, Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall
BEETHOVEN PIANO CYCLE
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Kirill Gerstein, piano & leader
L. v. Beethoven: Piano concertos 1 – 5, WoO 4.

Rediscovering unjustly forgotten composers is part of the artistic DNA of Fabio Biondi and his ensemble Europa Galante. The Belgian composer Pieter Van Maldere (1729–1768), court composer in Brussels, played a key role in the development of the symphony. His works enjoyed popularity across Europe and influenced both Haydn and Mozart. The programme which Europa Galante will perform in Antwerp traces a delicate lineage of symphonic genesis from Vivaldi to Mozart.

With Ian Bostridge, the orchestra will take a step back in music history: Lamento explores affections and emotions—grief, joy, conflict, and delight—capturing the full range of human feeling as expressed in the 17th century through new musical forms and techniques, particularly those that emerged in Italy.

12 March 2026, DeSingel
FROM VIVALDI TO MOZART
Europa Galante / Fabio Biondi, violin & leader
Works by P. van Maldere, A. Vivaldi, J. Haydn & W. A. Mozart

16 March 2026, Brucknerhaus Linz / 21 March 2026, Laieszhalle Hamburg
LAMENTO
Europa Galante / Ian Bostridge, tenor / Fabio Biondi, violin & leader
Works by D. Castello, C. Monteverdi, C. Farina, S. D’India & G. Frescobaldi

The Phantasm Viol Consort launched its own concert series in March 2025 at St Elisabeth Church in Berlin-Mitte. A total of four concerts are devoted entirely to polyphony, each focusing on a composer who was particularly distinguished in this compositional technique. In the fourth and final concert of the series, Phantasm presents five- and six-part consorts by the relatively little-known composer William Lawes (1602–1645).

Following the concert, guests are invited to a reception at the bar!

“No matter how much one engages with historical models and sources, nothing prepares you for the originality and daring of William Lawes’s consort pieces,” says Laurence Dreyfus, founder and musical director of Phantasm. A foretaste is offered by the ensemble’s two Lawes recordings from 2001 and 2002:

POLYPHONISCHE BEGEGNUNGEN – POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTER
Concert IV – William Laws, Exceptional Eccentric
Five- and Six-Part Consorts
Sunday, 8 March 2026, 5:00 p.m. St. Elisabeth
Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol and musical leader / Emilia Benjamin, treble viol / Jonathan Manson, tenor viol / Heidi Gröger, tenor viol / Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, bass viol / Martin Jantzen, bass viol

Under the direction of its honorary member Robin Ticciati, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe presents a programme that brings diverse musical connections into focus. Anton Webern’s original orchestration of the six-part Ricercar from Bach’s Musical Offering enters into dialogue with Sofia Gubaidulina’s Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H, a response to the great unfinished fugue at the conclusion of The Art of Fugue. Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto, performed by the Norwegian star violinist Vilde Frang, likewise draws on Baroque traditions even as its visionary harmonic language points unmistakably toward the future.

10 February 2026, Bozar, Brussels / 11 February 2026, DeSingel, Antwerpen / 12 February 2026, Theater Heerlen
REFLECTIONS
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Vilde Frang, violin / Robin Ticciati, conductor
S. Gubaidulina, arr. Gidon Kremer: „Reflections on the Theme B-A-C-H / R. Schumann: Violin concerto in d minor / J. S. Bach arr. A. Webern: Ricercar à 6 from Musikalischen Opfer / W. A. Mozart: Symphony no. 41 in C major K 551 „Jupiter“

Over the coming weeks, our ensemble’s varied programmes will take us to some of Europe’s most exciting musical centres: with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe we will be travelling, among other destinations, to Brussels and Athens; the Phantasm Viol Consort will perform in Berlin and London; Sarah Willis & The Sarahbanda will celebrate one of Germany’s most significant filmmakers in Frankfurt; Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi will explore musical beginnings in Antwerp, Linz, and Hamburg; and, under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Concerto Copenhagenwill present Bach in a strikingly new light in Stuttgart.

And of course, we also hope to see you at the 2026 edition of Classical:NEXT, which will take place in Budapest this April!

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe prides itself on maintaining excellent relationships with the most important soloists and conductors of our time, and artistically reciprocal. In Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, performed by the brilliant French sibling duo Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and the “Empress of the Piano,” Martha Argerich, the COE does more than participate in a musical dialogue: it shapes the musical structure and motifs while ensuring a perfect sonic balance— a triple concerto for four!

28 January 2026, Musikverein Wien
TRIPLE CONCERTO
Gautier Capuçon, cello / Martha Argerich, piano / Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Renaud Capuçon, violin & leader
L.v. Beethoven: Triple concerto in C major op. 56 / A. Dvořák: Symphony no. 8 in G major op. 88