ENSEMBLES - ANDREAS RICHTER – CULTURAL CONSULTING

B’Rock Orchestra

B’Rock Orchestra was set up in Ghent in 2005 on the basis of an urge for renewal and rejuvenation in the world of Early Music. The selected international musicians specialise in historically well-founded performance practices. They distinguish themselves by their open mind and flexibility of repertoire and playing style.

In the choices it makes for its concert programmes, B’Rock combines established works of baroque composition with the lesser-known repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. In addition, the orchestra pursues a bold and innovative programme policy, in which early and contemporary music meet and enrich each other. It focuses especially on giving first performances of new music written with its historic instruments in mind. Yet, the orchestra has a reputation for cross-genre productions, too. Finally, early music in combination with theatre, visual art and/or video are also a part of the orchestra’s DNA.

B’Rock Orchestra regularly engages prominent guest conductors and soloists such as René Jacobs, Jérémie Rhorer, Leonardo García Alarcón, Peter Dijkstra, Bejun Mehta, Alexander Melnikov, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Dmitry Sinkovsky, Sophie Karthäuser and many others. It frequently collaborates with leading choral ensembles such as RIAS Kammerchor, Collegium Vocale Ghent, the Nederlands Kamerkoor and Cappella Amsterdam ND has developed structural partnerships in the fields of opera and musical theatre with De Munt/La Monnaie and Muziektheater Transparant.

VIDEO

PRESS

„It is sensational how well the “Ur-Carmen” does when the orchestral sound is skilfully purified.”

Hamburger Abendblatt, 26 March 2024

„But, under Mr. Jacobs’s baton, B’Rock still sounded like a small chamber orchestra: nimble, clear, precise. And restrained, reserving its most powerful sound for dramatic effect, which added a sense of theater to a piece…”

New York Times, January 2019

„It’s a very special experience, from which the world can learn a great deal.“

Bachtrack, March 2017

SELECTION OF PROJECTS (2024/25)

–Overview projects 2024/25 (PDF)

December 2024
WEICHNACHTSORATORIUM
with Peter Dijkstra, conductor // Nederlands Kamerkoor // Katharina Conradi, Sopran TBC // Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Alt // Reinoud van Mechelen, Tenor TBC // Arttu Kataja, Bass TBC

Johann Sebastian Bach: Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248

Peter Dijkstra, Credits Astrid Ackermann

Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Credits Sound Picture design

Nederlands Kamerkoor, Credits Wiebrig Krakau

Availability upon request
MONTEVERDI IN FLANDERS
with Andreas Küppers, artistic direction & keyboard instruments // B’Rock Vocal Consort

Claudio Monteverdi left Italy only twice in his long life. As a member of the court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, he embarked in 1599 on a journey into the region from which many of his most important musical influences originated: Flanders. B’Rock follows Monteverdi on his trip to Flanders in a program that brings together his most significant Flemish influencers and the music, which mirrors these and develops them further and into a new age.

With works by C. Monteverdi, J. Desprez, A. Willaert, O. di Lasso, G. de Wert

Portrait of Claudio Monteverdi by Bernardo Strozzi (1640).

DOWNLOADS

–B’Rock Orchestra press photo 1

–B’Rock Orchestra press photo 2

–B’Rock Orchestra press photo 3

–Overview projects 24/25 (PDF)

–Biography (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

25 + 26 February 2023
B’Rock Orchestra, René Jacobs, Christiane Karg
VENGA LA MORTE!
C. M. von Weber: Overture to the opera „Der Freischütz”
W. A. Mozart: Cocert arias K.272, K.369 & K.490
Franz Schubert: Symphony no. 9 in C major D 944 „The Great”

“The orchestral sound is impressively transparent, you can hear every single voice, everything seems slender, supple, never fatted by vibrato.”

Die Rheinpfalz, 27 January 2023

11 + 19 March 2018
B’Rock Orchestra, René Jacobs, Robin Johanssen
F. Schubert: Symphony no. 1 in D major D 82
F. Schubert: Symphony no. 6 in C major D 589

Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century

The Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century is one of the most prominent early music orchestras in the world. The musicians play internationally in leading (chamber) music ensembles and meet several times a year for performances of iconic and lesser-known repertoire. In the early 1980s, the orchestra achieved world fame by performing grand symphonic work on original instruments and in a historically informed manner. A revolution that never really stopped.

But the uniqueness of the orchestra is not only in the sound or the way of playing. Ever since it was founded by Frans Brüggen more than forty years ago, musicians have never taken a score for granted. The approach is critical, curious, investigative and progressive. Core values from the Enlightenment that all orchestra members hold in high esteem. That is why every performance is a new challenge and the iconic repertoire remains alive and kicking.

VIDEO

PRESS

„Standing ovation at the end!“

Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 8 April 2024

„The other starry performance of the evening came from the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.“

Bachtrack, 16th October 2019

SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2024/25

–Overview projects 2024/25 (PDF)

July, August, 12 November – 7 December 2024, as well as upon request
The Voice of the Recorder
With Lucie Horsch, recorder & musical direction

Works by J. S. Bach, A. Vivaldi and R. Namavar (new work, inspired from Vivaldi)

May 2025

with Théotime Langlois de Swarte, violin

W. A. Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major
as well as other works by W. A. Mozart and J. B. Vañhal

Theotime de Langlois de Swarte Photo: Marco Borggreve for Jumpstart foundation

DOWNLOADS

–Orchestra of the 18th Century press photo 1

–Orchestra of the 18th Century press photo 2

–Orchestra of the 18th Century press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 2024/25 (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

25 MAY 2022 Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
J. Haydn: The Seasons
Nicolas Altstaedt, Dirigent / Christina Landhamer (Hanne) / Ian Bostridge (Lukas) / Florian Boesch (Simon) Capella Amsterdam

Vox Luminis

Vox Luminis was established almost 20 years ago; today, the ensemble uses its sparkling traits to enhance the world of early music! The push was made in 2004 by Lionel Meunier – bass and founding base of Vox Luminis. The objective is to gain access to the Light through the Voice. Every year, the ensemble releases on average two discs and offers its audience more than 60 concerts on Belgian, European and international stages.

They define themselves as a group of soloists with a variable combination (with a base from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague) and of a continuo, additional instrumentalists or a full orchestra, depending on the repertoire. The repertoire is essentially Italian, English and German and spans the 16th through the 18th centuries. Since its creation, the ensemble has been noted for its cohesion and it charms with the personality of every timbre and the homogeneity of the voices.

The year 2018 was marked by two awards: first, Vox Luminis won the famous BBC Music Magazine AWARD 2018 in the category “Choral Award Winner” for their recording Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott, following the disc Luther et la Musique de la Réforme. Second, KLARA named them “Ensemble of the Year”.

Today, Lionel Meunier has established himself as the internationally well-known conductor and artistic director of the Vox Luminis ensemble, which he created in 2004.

The ensemble is supported by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the City of Namur and Namur Confluent Culture and the Art and Life Tours (a funding program for concerts in Wallonia).

VIDEO

PRESS

„In the middle of all these sits the Biber, given out with typical care for expressive beauty by Vox Luminis.“

Gramophone, 04.02.2021

„… and the result is another deeply musical triumph.“

The Guardian, 30.06.2019

“Director Lionel Meunier is the real star, with a soaring vision of Purcell’s music in a class of its own.”

BBC Music Magazine

SELECTION OF PROJECTS (2024/25)

September and October 2024 upon request

Mass in B minor
Lionel Meunier, bass & direction // Freiburger Barockorchester

J. S: Bach: Mass in B minor BWV 232

Availability upon request
Ein Deutsches BarockRequieum

Johannes Brahms had a passion for polyphony and was inspired by models from the great Lutheran tradition of the late Renaissance and the Baroque for his Deutsches Requiem. It is no surprise that some of the texts that Brahms chose had already been set by his illustrious predecessors; it simply remained to trace a path through these earlier scores, so many meditations on death, and to assemble a very different Deutsches Requiem: one animated by the emotions of the Lutheran Baroque.

DOWNLOADS

Overview projects upon request

–Vox Luminis press photo 1

–Vox Luminis press photo 2

–Vox Luminis press photo 3

–Vox Luminis XL press photo 4

–Vox Luminis press photo 5

–Biography (PDF)

Oberon Trio

The Oberon Trio was founded in 2006. Shortly after the ensemble’s premier concert, the Flensburger Tageblatt already credited the Oberon Trio with “enormous interpretive abilities, which testify to the enchanting ripeness and stylistic command of this new ensemble.” Meanwhile, Oberon Trio has given performances at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Wiener Konzerthaus, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Konzerthaus Dortmund and Esterházy Palace, among others, as well as in Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, India, Egypt and the Ukraine.

Its three members are committed to offering performances of lesser-known compositions alongside with established masterpieces. Their repertoire extends from piano trios by CPE Bach and Joseph Haydn, the pioneers of the medium, to those by Jörg Widmann and Charlotte Bray, whose trios were recorded by the ensemble for the first time. Oberon Trio also collaborates regularly with chamber music partners such as Tabea Zimmermann, Ian Bostridge, Christoph Prégardien and Shirley Brill.

A special passion of the Oberon Trio is the establishment of greater intimacy between the performers and the public. Through moderated concerts and by publishing their own programme notes of performed works among other approaches, they provide listeners with an insight into their working process and the background of their interpretations.

On November 19, 2022, the Oberon Trio invites you to the TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200. Together with the Amatis Trio, the Morgenstern Trio and the actress Stella Maria Adorf, the ensemble celebrates the poet, composer and caricaturist E.T.A. Hoffmann, whose death anniversary in 2022 is the 200th. The program includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, two world premieres by Britta Byström and Frank Zabel – and, of course, music and texts by the jubilarian E.T.A. Hoffmann. For more information, visit www.triogipfel.de

VIDEO

PRESS

„Zuhören einfach ein Genuß!“

Passauer Neue Presse, 16. Juli 2022

„Haydn und Schumann klingen frisch wie am ersten Tag, Hosokawas spirituelle Dimension ist geradezu eine Offenbarung, und Copland stringentes Doppelspiel mit Zwischentönen gelingt grandios.“

Crescendo, Februar 2020

„Kammermusik auf höchstem Niveau.“

Das Orchester, Mai, 2017

SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2024/25

–Project Overview 2024-25 (PDF)

Dates available upon request
LIEBST DU UM SCHÖNHEIT
with Ian Bostridge, tenor

Rückert songs by Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, Clara Schumann a.o.

Dates available upon request
FOLK SONG BY HAYDN AND BEETHOVEN
with Christoph Prégardien or Ian Bostridge, tenor

With songs and trios by L. v. Beethoven and J. Haydn

DOWNLOADS

–Oberon Trio press photo 1

–Oberon Trio press photo 2

–Oberon Trio press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 2024-25 (PDF)

–Beethoven hoch Drei (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

19 November 2022, KühlhausBerlin
TRIOGIPFEL E.T.A.200 –
“Wo die Sprache aufhört, fängt die Musik an.”
A chamber music festival for Berlin on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of E.T.A. Hoffmann

Contributors: Oberon Trio, Amatis Trio, Morgenstern Trio, Stella Maria Adorf

“The result is an impressive plea for the piano trio genre.”

nmz, 20 November 2022

27 June 2020, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
Beethoven3
Oberon Trio / Christoph Pregardién, tenor

Kronos Quartet

For nearly 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), John Sherba (violin), Hank Dutt (viola), and Paul Wiancko (cello)—has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released more than 70 recordings, and collaborated with many of the world’s most accomplished composers and performers across many genres. Kronos has received more than 40 awards, including three Grammys and the Polar Music, Avery Fisher, and Edison Klassiek Oeuvre Prizes.

Through its non-profit organization, Kronos Performing Arts Association (KPAA), Kronos has commissioned more than 1,000 works and arrangements for quartet. KPAA also manages Kronos’ concert tours, local performances, recordings, and education programs, and produces an annual Kronos Festival in San Francisco. In its most ambitious commissioning effort to date, KPAA has recently completed 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Through this initiative, Kronos has commissioned—and distributed online for free—50 new works for string quartet designed for students and emerging professionals, written by composers from around the world.

VIDEO

PRESS

„Now after 45 years, the Kronos life journey [has become] a relentless endeavor to open up the world’s music for everyone.“

Metro Silicon Valley

„As Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare, [Kronos Quartet is] not of an age but for all time.“

Santa Cruz Sentinel

„The most far-ranging ensemble geographically, nationally and stylistically the world has known.“

Los Angeles Times

DOWNLOADS

–Kronos Quartet press photo 1

–Kronos Quartet press photo 2

–Kronos Quartet press photo 3

–Biography (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS

21 MAY 2022 Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele
50 for the future

For its 50 for the Future project, the Kronos Quartet asked 50 international composers to write new works. The compositions created and still being created follow a participatory approach in that the scores are accessible free of charge and are supplemented by audio samples and interviews. In Ludwigsburg, the programme included works by Angélique Kidjo, inti figgis-vizueta, Terry Riley and Philip Glass, among others.

„’Die sollten zum Jubiläum wiederkommen’,
meinte ein Besucher beim Weggehen.“

Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 24. Mai 2022

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) was founded in 1981 by a group of young musicians who became acquainted as part of the European Community Youth Orchestra (now EUYO). There are now about 60 members of the COE, who pursue parallel careers as principals or section leaders of nationally-based orchestras, eminent chamber musicians, and as tutors of music.

From the start, the COE’s identity was shaped by its partnerships with leading conductors and soloists. It was Claudio Abbado above all who served as an important mentor in the early years. He led the COE in staged works such as Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, and conducted numerous concerts featuring works by Schubert and Brahms in particular. Nikolaus Harnoncourt also had a major influence on the development of the COE through his performances and recordings of all of the Beethoven symphonies, as well as through opera productions at the Salzburg, Vienna, and Styriarte festivals.

Currently, the Orchestra works closely with Sir András Schiff and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who are both Honorary Members, following in the footsteps of Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

The COE has strong links with many of the major festivals and concert halls in Europe including the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie in Berlin, the Cologne, Luxembourg and Paris Philharmonies, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. In partnership with the Kronberg Academy, the COE becomes the first-ever Orchestra-in-residence at the Casals Forum in Kronberg from 2022. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe is also Orchestra-in-residence at the Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt from 2022.

With more than 250 works in its discography, the COE’s CDs have won numerous international prizes, including two Grammys and three Gramophone Record of the Year Awards. Their most recent release is an archive recording of the Schubert Symphonies, performed at the Styriarte Festival in Graz in 1988 with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, released by ICA Classics. The 4-CD box-set has been enthusiastically received by the critics internationally, and we have now released a second box-set of archive recordings with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, featuring works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. In January 2022, we also released all of the Sibelius Symphonies on DVD and BluRay, conducted by Paavo Berglund at the Helsinki Festival in 1998.

The COE is a private orchestra which receives invaluable financial support from particularly the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and a further number of Friends including Dasha Shenkman, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the Rupert Hughes Will Trust, the Underwood Trust, the 35th Anniversary Friends and American Friends.

VIDEO

PRESS REVIEWS

„There are worse ways to start the day than with four Mozart Salzburg divertimenti: all the better when performed in Salzburg and with such distinction and evident affection as was brought to them by soloists from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.“

Seen and heard international, 26th January 2020

„At its end, this “dream team” of players and conductor took thunderous applause.“

Bachtrack, 20th August 2018

SELECTION OF PROJECTS (2024/25)

–Overview projects 2024/25 (PDF)

10 – 20 November 2024
Antonio Pappano, conductor / Bertrand Chamayou, piano

D. Milhaud: La Création du monde, Op 81a
M. Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
G. Gershwin: I got Rhythm variations 1934
L. Bernstein: Fancy Free [complete ballet]

Credits: Marco Borggreve

DOWNLOADS

–COE press photo 1

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 2024/25 (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

26 November 2022 Megaron, The Athens Concert Hall – 30 November 2022 Isarphilharmonie Munich – 3 December 2022 De Singel, Antwerpen – 4 December 2022 Kölner Phlharmonie

Antonio Pappano, conductor / Janine Jansen, violin
M. Ravel: “Le Tombeau de Couperin” for orchestra
S. Prokofiev: Violin concerto no.1 op.19
A. Dvořák: Serenade for orchestra
Z. Kodály: “Dances from Galánta” for Symphony Orchestra

“One would like to experience this great troupe more often.”

Münchner Merkur, 2 December 2022

“This was woodwind playing at its finest with tight ensemble and beautiful phrasing.”

bachtrack, 5 December 2022

31 May 2022 Dresdner Musikfestspiele – 1 June 2022 Philharmonie de Luxembourg – 3 June 2022 Kölner Philharmonie – 5 June 2022 Musikverein Wien – 7 June 2022 Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Sir Simon Rattle, conductor / Magdalena Kožená, mezzosopran / Andrew Staples, tenor
R. Strauss: Metamorphosen. Study for 23 solo strings TrV 290
G. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde. A symphony for one tenor and one alto voice and orchestra

“The Dresden guest performance of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Sir Simon RattIe, however, once again stood out clearly from the concert series.”

Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, 2 June 2022

“There was long, frenetic applause at the end.”

Sächsische Zeitung, 2. June 2022

“The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, once founded by Claudio Abbado, with conductor Sir Simon Rattle – with all caution – relies on very direct access. This resulted in a quasi instrumentally revealing music theatre.”

Der Standard, 8 June 2022

6 October 2019
András Schiff
J. Haydn: Overture to L’isola disabitata in G minor, Hob Ia:13 / Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major / Symphony No. 88 in G major
F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 / Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 “The Italian”