The English Baroque Soloists

English Baroque Soloists

The English Baroque Soloists was formed in 1978 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner and has since established itself as one of the world's great period-instrument chamber orchestras.

The ensemble has performed at many prestigious venues and festivals around the world, including La Scala in Milan, the out-door amphitheatre in Pompeii, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Salle Pleyel and the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, New York’s Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and St Mark’s, Venice. In 1990 the English Baroque Soloists made its Salzburg Festival début and has since returned to Salzburg, Vienna and Innsbruck on many occasions.

In 1990 a six-year project was launched to perform Mozart’s seven mature operas throughout Europe which concluded with the London performances in 1995 of Die Zauberflöte. The recordings of these operas have received outstanding critical acclaim since their release. The ensemble has also recorded all Mozart’s mature symphonies and the Requiem and Mass in C minor (Philips) as well as the complete piano concerto cycle with Malcolm Bilson, the first on period instruments (DG Archiv).

In celebration of the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death in 2000, John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists undertook the biggest baroque project of any music ensemble to date – the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage – performing all one hundred and ninety-eight of Bach’s sacred cantatas in over sixty churches throughout Europe on the Sundays and feast days for which they were intended.

To celebrate the 2006 Mozart anniversary the English Baroque Soloists toured extensively throughout Europe, the Far East and the USA with several Mozart programmes. They performed in Mozart’s Il re pastore and La finta giardiniera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and concluded with Opera Galas in London, Paris, Madrid and Pisa.

In February 2007, with the Monteverdi Choir they took part in the "Domaine Privé de Sir John Eliot Gardiner" at Cité de la musique in Paris and in March and August 2008 they toured Bach’s St John Passion with the Monteverdi Choir. Recent projects in 2009 included performances of JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Brandenburg Concertos and Motets in an 11-concert residency at Spitalfields Music Winter Festival, a recording of the Brandenburg Concertos for Soli Deo Gloria, and a European tour of Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner. In 2010 they will perform a European tour of JC Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Monteverdi Choir and John Eliot Gardiner.