ENSEMBLES - ANDREAS RICHTER – CULTURAL CONSULTING

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

„Individual voices had the clarity and color to pick them out of the ensemble while the blend among them was finely balanced. The thoughtfulness and musicality were most impressive.“

New York Classical Review, 28 October 2024

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

The Guardian, 30 June 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 2026/27

Projects and programs on request

Dates upon request
SACRO MONTEVERDI
Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier, bass & musical leader

Selva Morale e Spirituale (moral and spiritual forest) is the artistic testament of Claudio Monteverdi, who entered holy orders after the loss of his wife and then his son. An ode to vocal music, performed by one of the finest vocal ensembles of our time.

C. Monteverdi: Excerpts from Selva morale e spirituale, SV 252-288

DOWNLOADS

–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)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

9 December 2025, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / 13 December 2025, Konzerthaus Dortmund
MAGNIFICAT
Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier, bass & artistic direction

The Magnificat of the pregnant Mary, praising God who sides with the poor and dethrones the mighty, carries a striking relevance in times of economic and social hardship. In December 2026, this resonance was to life by Vox Luminis under the direction of Lionel Meunier.

G. P. Telemann: Uns ist ein Kind geboren – cantata TWV 1:1451 / J. S. Bach: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag BWV 63 / J. S. Bach: Magnificat in D major BWV 243

„Vox Luminis, under Lionel Meunier, stepped confidently into this terrain with good humour and radiant musicality.“

bachtrack, 10 December 2025

21 July 2024, Salzburger Festspiele
SPEM IN ALIUM
Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier, bass & musical direction

Thomas Tallis’s monumental 40-voice work Spem in alium was inspired by Alessandro Striggio’s example. Tallis conceived his music to be heard “in the round,” meaning that the listener sat within the circle of performers. Vox Luminis could be experienced at the Salzburg Festival in X-large format!

Works by T. Tallis, J. Sheppard & A. Striggio

“An overwhelming experience.”

BR Klassik, 23 July 2024

“This is a festival!”

drehpunkkultur.at 22 July 2024

“That evening, a performance succeeded in bringing the full richness and artistic beauty of the St Matthew Passion into full bloom.”

Salzburger Nachrichten 22 July 2024

5 April 2023, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg / 6 April 2023, Konzerthaus Dortmund
ST. MATTHEW PASSION
Freiburger Barockorchester / Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier, bass & musical direction

Bach’s exuberant panorama of dramatic textual interpretation and countless musical ideas presents the Passion of Jesus Christ in an artistic form that remains unmatched to this day.

J. S. Bach: Matthäus-Passion BWV 244

“That evening, a performance succeeded in bringing the full richness and artistic beauty of the St Matthew Passion into full bloom.“

bachtrack, 28 March 2023

Kronos Quartet

For nearly 50 years, San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet—David Harrington (violin), Gabriela Díaz (violin), Hank Dutt (viola) and Ayane Kozasa (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

PROJECTS 2027/28 – A Selection

–Projects 2027/28 (PDF)

Dates upon request
A HARD RAIN
David Harrington, violin / Gabriela Díaz, violin / Ayane Kozasa, viola / Paul Wiancko, cello

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb exploded – eighty years later, the Grammy-winning Kronos Quartet dedicates the program A Hard Rain to this subject, creating a powerful concert evening that interweaves music, eyewitness accounts, and artistic reflection. The dramaturgy spans a wide arc—from intimate, hushed moments to eruptive sound worlds that make the threat of nuclear destruction palpable. At the same time, A Hard Rain is a celebration of humanity: an evening about hope, resilience, and the power of art to demand responsibility.

Music by Terry Riley, Bob Dylan, Tanya Tagaq, Laurie Anderson, Gabriella Smith, Philip Glass, Hildur Guðnadóttir and Viet Cuong, arrangements of traditionals
Texts from diaries, letters, and speeches by Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Nikita Khrushchev, Sad-dam Hussein, and General Lee Butler

DOWNLOADS

–Kronos Quartet press photo 1

–Kronos Quartet press photo 2

–Kronos Quartet press photo 3

–Kronos Quartet press photo 4

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 27/28 (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS

14 MAY 2024 Kunstfestspiele Herrenhausen
KRONOS Five Decades

The Kronos Quartet has massively expanded, if not blown up, the boundaries of the string quartet with sound and style experiments, excursions into genres far removed from classical music and multimedia worlds. In the current season, the quartet is celebrating its 50th birthday with an European tour: new commissioned works, characteristic interpretations from its extensive repertoire and pieces from its latest project “Kronos Fifty for the Future” are on the anniversary programme.

Works by Terry Riley, Sun Ra, Aleksandra Vrebalov, Nicole Lizee, Tanya Tagaq

Kronos Quartet © KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen 2024, Helge Krückeberg

„An intense evening ends in a standing ovation.“

Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 22. Mai 2024

16 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
A THOUSAND THOUGHTS – A Live Documentation with the Kronos Quartet
Sam Green, speaker

20 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
BLACK ANGELS
Works for string quartet by F. Ali-Sade, S. Gubaidulina, M. Gordon, T. Riley & G. Crumb

21 May 2023, Pierre Boulez Saal
Open house day
Works for string quartet by various composers
Kronos Quartet / students of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, Hochschule für Musik „Hanns Eisler“ and Berliner Universität der Künste

The legendary Kronos Quartet was a guest at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin for a week as part of the Quartet Summer. In addition to a concert with groundbreaking string quartet works from the 20th and 21st centuries, the quartet also presented a live musical documentation of its eventful history. The residency was also accompanied by a comprehensive education programme with young string quartets.

Kronos Quartet © Peter Adamik

“Crumbs Black Angels are part of music history, just like the very lively Kronos Quartet.“

111 Konzertgänger in Berlin, 23 May 2023

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

The COE was founded in 1981 by a group of musicians graduating from the European Union Youth Orchestra. It was their ambition to continue working together at the highest professional level, and of that original group, thirteen remain in the current core membership of around sixty. The members of the COE, selected by the Orchestra itself, pursue parallel careers as international soloists, Leaders and Principals of nationally-based orchestras, as members of eminent chamber groups, and as professors of music. Performances are given regularly in the major cities of Europe and occasionally in the USA and Asia. 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 has been the first-ever Orchestra-in-residence at the Casals Forum in Kronberg since 2022. The COE has also been Orchestra-in-residence at the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt since 2022.

Currently the Orchestra works closely with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir András Schiff, who are Honorary Members (following in the footsteps of Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt), and also Sir Antonio Pappano and Robin Ticciati. The COE works with all the major recording companies and, in just over forty years years, has recorded more than 250 works and won numerous international awards, including three Gramophone Record of the Year awards and two Grammys. The Orchestra’s latest recording was a Brahms Symphony Cycle with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, recorded at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and released by Deutsche Grammophon in July 2024.

The COE created its Academy in 2009 and each year awards scholarships to talented postgraduate students and young professionals to study with the COE’s principal players when the Orchestra is ‘on tour’. The Orchestra receives invaluable financial support from 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

„And in the end, the joy inspired by this music is also reflected in the long applause that brings this beautiful concert to a close.“

Tagesspiegel Berlin, 32 April 2026

„There was a standing ovation at the end – and rightly so.“

Hamburger Abendblatt, 30 May 2024

„The virtuosic joy of playing and depth of feeling came together so naturally here together in a way that only the greats can achieve.”

Sächsische Zeitung, 30 May 2023

SELECTION OF PROJECTS 2027/28

7 – 16 November 2027
Sir Antonio Papano, conductor / soloist tbc.

One of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe’s most important partners is Sir Antonio Pappano, who has been an honorary member of the orchestra since November 2025. The collaboration, which began in 2016, has taken the orchestra and conductor to around 30 European musical centres, including the Berlin, Essen and Cologne Philharmonie halls, the Megaron in Athens, and the Musikverein in Vienna.

D. Shostakovich: Symphony no. 9 in E-flat major op. 70
B. Bartók: Piano Concerto no. 3, Sz. 119
A. Dvorak: Symphony no. 9 in E minor op. 95 „From the New World“

COE & Sir Antonio Pappano © Julia Wesely

–Overview projects 2027/28 (PDF)

DOWNLOADS

–COE press photo 1

–COE press photo 2

–Biography (PDF)

–Projects 2027/28 (PDF)

PAST CONCERTS – A SELECTION

10 September 2025, Herbstgold Festival, Schloss Esterházy, Eisenstadt / 17 September 2025, George Enescu International Festival
MOZART & DVOŘÁK
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Sir András Schiff, piano & musical leader

Under the direction of its honorary member and long-standing partner Sir András Schiff, the COE opened the Herbstgold Festival 2025 at Schloss Esterházy, where the orchestra has held a residency for several years. It then continued on to Romania for the George Enescu Festival.

Werke von W. A. Mozart & A. Dvořák

28 January 2025, Philharmonie Berlin / 29 January 2025, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg
HAENDEL & MOZART
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Iestyn Davies, countertenor / Robin Ticciati, conductor

One of the COE‘s most important partners is Robin Ticciati, with whom the orchestra performed in Berlin and Hamburg in January 2025. Joining as soloist was Iestyn Davies, who is performing with the COE for the first time. The concert programme juxtaposed arias from operas and oratorios by George Frideric Handel with arias from Mozart’s opera Mitridate, which he composed at the age of 14, and explores the transition between the late Baroque and Classical periods.

Works by G. F. Haendel & W. A. Mozart

„Otherworldly Evening.“

Hamburger Abendblatt, 30 January 2025

„It was an emotional and eloquent Mozart rollercoaster, a memory to be cherished for a long time..“

DrehPunktKultur, 3 February 2025

22 June 2024 Schloss Esterházy – 24 June 2024 Lugano LAC – 26 June 2024 La Grange au Lac, Evian – 28 June 2024 Ravenna Festival – 30 June 2024 Epidaurus Festival, Athen
ROMANTIK
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano / Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

A. Dvořák: Scherzo Capriccioso
G. Mahler: Rückert Lieder
B. Bartók: Five Hungarian Folk Songs
F. Schubert: Symphony no. 9 in C major “The Great”

“Towards the end, an orchestral storm unexpectedly breaks into this melodic bliss – and then and afterwards nothing is as it was before.”

bachtrack, 26 June 2024

22 September 2023 Beethovenfest Bonn, Kreuzkirche
LIED VON DER ERDE
Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano / Allan Clayton, tenor / Robin Ticciati, conductor

B. Dean: “Pastoral Symphony” for chamber orchestra
G. Mahler: “Das Lied von der Erde”

24 September 2023 Beethovenfest Bonn (closing concert)
BEETHOVEN
Robin Ticciati, conductor / Christian Tetzlaff, violin

J. L. Adams: “Ten Thousand Birds”
H. Berlioz: “Scene d’amour” from “Roméo et Juliette”, Symphonie Dramatique op. 17
R.Schumann: Violin Concerto in D minor WoO 1
L. v. Beethoven: Symphony no. 7 in A minor op. 92