The English Concert is an outstanding orchestra: exceptional, in the world-renowned quality, ambition and variety of its live and recorded output; unique, in the zeal of its players for working and performing together; unwavering, in its desire to connect with its audience throughout the world.
Founded in 1973 by the visionary harpsichordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock, The English Concert quickly rose to prominence under his leadership. For over three decades, Pinnock served as the founding director, shaping the orchestra’s distinctive sound and championing the performance of Baroque and Classical music on period instruments. The orchestra’s outstanding recording output under Trevor Pinnock, which includes critically acclaimed interpretations of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi, garnered international recognition and helped to establish The English Concert as a leading force in the early music revival. This rich musical legacy continues to inspire and inform the orchestra’s work today.
Under the present artistic direction of Harry Bicket and principal guest Kristian Bezuidenhout, The English Concert has earned a reputation for combining urgency, passion and fire with precision, delicacy and beauty.
The artistic partners we collaborate with reflect and enhance our pursuit for new ways to bring our music to life. Joyce DiDonato, Dame Sarah Connolly, Iestyn Davies, Alison Balsom, Trevor Pinnock, Dominic Dromgoole, Tom Morris and many more have not only brought their extraordinary skills to individual projects but continue to help us to shape the way we perform.
One cornerstone of the orchestra’s annual cycle is its international Handel Opera tour. Blossoming from an ongoing relationship with Carnegie Hall, the itinerary now regularly takes in the Theater an der Wien, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Elbphilharmonie and Barbican Hall, and the roster of great halls continues to grow. Meanwhile, our regular London series allows us to explore a radically different path, presenting programmes to our home audience that challenge and inspire us.
In 2023, The English Concert launched their ambitious Handel for All project, which aims to film and make freely available all of Handel’s works online.
2023/2024
Harry Bicket
Artistic Director, The English Concert
Born in Liverpool, Harry Bicket studied at the Royal College of Music and the University of Oxford where he was Organ Scholar at Christ Church. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen’s birthday honours.
Harry Bicket is internationally renowned, especially for his interpretation of baroque and classical repertoire. Since 2007 he has been Artistic Director of The English Concert, one of Europe’s finest period orchestras, with whom he has recently undertaken a project to record all of Handel’s works as an on-line resource for all. This season, in addition to their London season and recording projects, includes tours to the United States and Asia with Handel’s Rodelinda.
Following his tenure as Chief Conductor of Santa Fe Opera since 2013, he was appointed Music Director in 2018. His productions with the company include Orfeo, Pelleas et Melisande, Carmen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Le nozze di Figaro, Fidelio, La Finta Giardiniera, Romeo et Juliette, Alcina, Candide and Cosi fan tutte, and in 2019 he conducted Strauss Vier letzte Lieder with Renée Fleming. He returns in 2024 for Don Giovanni.
Elsewhere this season, he returns to Opera North for Masque of Might, Sir David Pountney’s staging of selected works by Henry Purcell; to the Paris Opera for Giulio Cesare, and to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for a choral programme of Nunes Garcia, Bach, Haydn and Vaughan Williams.
He is a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera where his recent productions have included Rodelinda, Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, La clemenza di Tito, Giulio Cesare, Agrippina and Cosi fan tutte. His many titles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago include Carmen and Rinaldo. At the Canadian Opera Company he has conducted Le nozze di Figaro, Maometto II and Hercules and at Houston Grand Opera, Le nozze di Figaro and Rusalka. He is regularly invited to the North American symphony orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – most recently in a collaboration with the Joffrey ballet, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Orchestra of St Luke’s, Seattle Symphony, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, NACO Ottawa, Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In Europe, he made his debut at the Paris Opera last season with Ariodante in a new production by Robert Carsen. At the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, he has conducted Rinaldo, Ariodante, Serse, Orlando, Orfeo ed Euridice, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte. At the Liceu, Barcelona, he was awarded the Opera Critics Best Conductor Prize for Giulio Cesare, and has also appeared at Theater an der Wien (Iphigenie en Tauride, Mitridate) and Opera de Bordeaux (Alcina).
A regular favourite in the UK, he made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1996 in Peter Sellars’s landmark production of Theodora and has made numerous appearances with the English National Opera, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera. His Theodora at the Royal Opera House in 2022 was nominated for an Olivier Award for best new production.
His vast orchestral experience includes repertoire from Bach to Britten with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Prague Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio Frace, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic and the Tokyo Symphony.
He is a prolific recording artist and has made numerous recordings with The English Concert, most recently, Handel’s Rodelinda and La Resurezzione and Serse released in 2023 for Linn Records to great critical acclaim. His discography also includes five recordings with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, among them a collection of Handel opera arias with Renée Fleming (Decca) and Ian Bostridge (EMI), as well as selections from Handel’s Theodora, Serse, and the cantata La Lucrezia with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Avie), nominated for a Grammy Award. His solo recordings with David Daniels for Virgin Veritas and Susan Graham for Erato were both nominated for Gramophone Awards.
September 2023
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