chamber orchestra of europe
1982
1983
1984
1985
1981
First European tour
First tour to Australia
The COE is born
Viaggio a Reims
USA Tour
First major European tour with Claudio Abbado to France, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands.
COE launch concert on 18th May 1981 at London's Merchant Taylor's Hall. COE concert at the Barbican Hall before the hall had even opened (acoustic test). First opera performance and tour abroad with Maurizio Pollini, performing La Donna del Lago in Pesaro.
Performance and recording of Rossini's Viaggio a Reims in Pesaro with Claudio Abbado which received a Gramophone Record of the Year Award. Concert behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest. International tours to France, Italy, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Israel.
First tour to Australia with conductor Jacek Kasprzyk. Return to Pesaro to perform and record La Donna del Lago with Pollini. Edinburgh Festival with Alexander Schneider.
13 concerts in the USA with Claudio Abbado, James Judd, and Alexander Schneider. Filmed a Rossini anniversary spectacular gala concert in Versailles with Montserrat Caballe, Marylin Horne and Samuel Ramey (in costumes!). First project with Sir András Schiff at the Lichfield Festival with George Malcolm, Sándor Végh and Heinz Holliger.
chamber orchestra of europe
1987
1988
1989
1990
1986
First Styriarte Festival
Residency in Berlin
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Residency in Ferrara
Recording, recording, recording...
First invitation to the Styriarte Festival in Graz with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, where we then went every year for nearly 30 years. European tour with Gidon Kremer, USA tour with Lorin Maazel. Concerts in Finland with Paavo Berglund. Salzburg Festival with Abbado. Italian tour with Schneider.
First Gramophone of the Year Award for Rossini's Viaggio a Reims with Claudio Abbado. First project with Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Salzburg Festival debut, BBC proms and Edinburgh Festival.
Start of our long-lasting residency in Ferrara. Performances and recording of all the Bach keyboard concertos with Sir András Schiff. European tour with Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich. The COE was in Berlin just after the Wall fell.
Second Gramophone of the Year Award for our Schubert Symphony Cycle with Abbado. Start of residency at the Kammermusiksaal in Berlin. Tour to Hong Kong, USA and Japan (which was hit by an earthquake!). Performances and recording of Schubert's Fierrabras with Abbado in Vienna.
Recording of Schubert's Fierrabras wins international awards. Performance and recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos for DG. First project with Sir Roger Norrington. Performance and recording of all of the Beethoven symphonies with Harnoncourt. Live recording and TV broadcast of choral pieces with Abbado in Vienna.
chamber orchestra of europe
1992
1993
1994
1995
1991
Beethoven * a million!
10 years on...
A convent in Ferrara
Beethoven in Salzburg
Sibelius with Berglund
Release of the Beethoven Symphonies with Nikolaus Harnoncourt which has sold over a million copies worldwide. Rossini's bi-centenary celebrations with performances of Viaggio a Reims and recording of Barber of Seville. Salzburg Festival with Harnoncourt and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
10th anniversary of the COE and celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death at Vienna's Musikverein. Launch of the COE football team in Ferrara with secret weapon: Iris Juda! 6-part TV documentary, 'Living Music', about the COE on UK Television. Tour to Japan with Claudio Abbado.
Beethoven Symphonies performed twice at the Salzburg Festival. Mozart operas in Ferrara with Abbado and London, Cologne, Stuttgart and Paris with Solti. Beethoven's Fidelio in Graz with Harnoncourt.
Performance and recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with COE Leader Marieke Blankestijn. Recording of live performances of Schumann Symphonies in Graz with Harnoncourt. Tours with Abbado. Renovation of the Santo Spirito Convent in Ferrara to accommodate the COE, as they visited so often!
Performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with Harnoncourt for the 75th anniversary of Salzburg Festival. Release of recording of Cosi Fan Tutte with Solti. Barber of Seville with Abbado in Ferrara. Schumann's Symphonies and Schubert Masses with Harnoncourt in Graz. Sibelius Symphony cycle with Berglund recorded for Finlandia.
chamber orchestra of europe
1997
1998
1999
2000
1996
Don Giovanni in Ferrara
Sibelius and Paavo Berglund
Beethoven in New York
Happy birthday Nikolaus!
Slavonic Dances
Touring and recording of the Brahms Symphonies with Paavo Berglund. Performance and recording of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with Harnoncourt in Graz, a highlight of the year. Tour to Japan with Emmanuel Krivine, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky and Akiko Suwanai.
Schubert symphonies and songs with Abbado at Salzburg and Berlin Festivals. Double cycle of Brahms Symphonies in Graz with Harnoncourt. Don Giovanni with Abbado in Ferrara... also recreated by the COE and Bryn Terfel at Settimo's!
Invited to perform Beethoven Symphonies with Harnoncourt at New York's Carnegie Hall. Recording of Haydn's Cello Concertos with Steven Isserlis and Roger Norrington. European tour with Abbado and Pavarotti. Marriage of Figaro at Salzburg Festival.
Tours with Herbert Blomstedt and Christian Tetzlaff, as well as Sir András Schiff. Celebration of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 70th birthday with a European tour, ending up at the Musikverein in Vienna.
Release of our Sibelius Symphony cycle with Paavo Berglund recorded for Finlandia. Toured the Sibelius and Brahms Symphonies with him. Schumann's opera Paradies und die Peri in Graz with Harnoncourt.
chamber orchestra of europe
2002
2003
2004
2005
2001
"Best orchestra in Europe" (FT)
The COE in the USA
A golden anniversary and a Duchess
Happy 20th birthday COE!
Magic Flute and Carmen
COE's recording of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances awarded Gramophone Magazine's Orchestral Record of the Year 2002. Concerts with Sir András Schiff at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals. Last ever project with Claudio Abbado. Beethoven and Schubert in Graz with Harnoncourt and Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Release of Brahms Symphony cycle with Berglund. European tour celebrating Alfred Brendel's 70th birthday. Celebrating Wigmore Hall's 100th birthday with Sir András Schiff. Styriarte Festival with Harnoncourt and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. COE's 20th birthday concert at St John, Smith's Square, London.
Appointed first resident orchestra at the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Concerts with Mitsuko Uchida. Concerts and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert in Graz with Harnoncourt, Aimard, Hagen, Zehetmair. Tour to the USA with Sir András Schiff (Bach & Mendelssohn)
Grammy award for our Schubert songs recorded the previous year with Abbado, Anne-Sofie von Otter and Thomas Quasthoff. Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein in Graz with Harnoncourt... in costumes! Celebration of Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt's Golden Wedding Anniversary.
COE selected by Kenneth Branagh for his production of The Magic Flute. Première of Thomas Adès' Violin Concerto with Anthony Marwood. Tour to Japan with François Leleux and Akiko Suwanai. Fully-staged performance of Carmen in Graz with Harnoncourt. Recording Mozart Piano Concertos with Aimard.
chamber orchestra of europe
2007
2008
2009
2010
2006
Cultural Ambassador for Europe
Haitink and Nezet-Seguin
The COE turns 25!
Porgy and Bess
The COE on DVD and on the waves
COE appointed Cultural Ambassador by the EU Commission (2007-2013). Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in Luxemburg. Performances, live broadcast and DVD recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Mass in C with Harnoncourt in Graz.
COE 25th anniversary concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The Daily Telegraph says the COE is "the best chamber orchestra in the world". Celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth in Salzburg. Agreement of a 3-year residency at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
Collaboration with St Paul's Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, USA. First tour with Vladimir Jurowski and also Hélène Grimaud and DVD recording of Ravel's Piano Concerto in Paris. Beethoven cycle at the Lucerne Festival with Haitink. Fully-staged performances of Porgy & Bess in Graz with Harnoncourt. Celebration of the 10th anniversary of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Tour with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Lisa Batiashvili.
Start of our residency at the Gulbenkian Foundation with concerts with Dougie Boyd and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Appointment of Lorenza Borrani as co-Leader alongside Marieke Blankestijn. Start of a Beethoven Symphony Cycle at the Lucerne Festival with Bernard Haitink. Tour to Spain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Janine Jansen.
First live-streamed broadcast from the Cité de la musique in Paris on ARTE and Radio France. Release of 3 DVDs, including Beethoven at the Styriarte (from 2007). USA tour with Aimard. Smetana's Ma Vlast with Harnoncourt in Graz. European tour with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and completion of Beethoven cycle in Lucerne with Haitink. Tour with Jurowski and Joshua Bell to France and Italy.
chamber orchestra of europe
2012
2013
2014
2015
2011
Mozart in Baden-Baden
Bluebeard!
The COE turns 30
Happy birthday Bernard!
The Last Sausage
Completion of Beethoven cycle with Haitink in Amsterdam and Paris. Dvorak's Stabat Mater in Graz with Harnoncourt. First Mozart opera project in Baden-Baden with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Rolando Villazon (Cosi fan tutte) - first of a series of late Mozart opera recordings for DG. Lucerne Festival with Haitink.
Performance of Haydn's Creation in Budapest on 1st January. Celebration of COE's 30th anniversary with a Friends' concert at St John, Smith's Square in London. BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival and Beethoven cycle in Amsterdam and Paris with Bernard Haitink. Smetana's Bartered Bride performed and recorded with Harnoncourt in Graz.
Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence with Martha Argerich and Emmanuel Krivine. Residency at Aldeburgh Festival. Concerts celebrating Bernard Haitink's 85th birthday in Lucerne, London, Amsterdam and Paris. Release of our Schumann symphonies with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail in Baden-Baden.
Fully staged production of Don Giovanni in Dijon with Gerard Korsten. Celebration of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw's 125th anniversary with Bernard Haitink and Janine Jansen. Release of our recordings of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Quintet with Romain Guyot. Bluebeard in Graz - last full project with Harnoncourt.
Last ever project in Graz at the Styriarte, with Karina Canellakis - and last ever after-concert outing at the Wurstelstand on the main square. Concert with Jurowski and Lupu at the newly opened Auditorium in Bordeaux. Summer of concerts with Yannick and recording of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in Baden-Baden. Sibelius Symphony cycle at Turku Festival with Oramo. Concerts with Haitink at BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Amsterdam, Lugano and Vienna.
chamber orchestra of europe
2017
2018
2019
2020
2016
Dubai with Robin Ticciati
Magic Flute in Baden-Baden
Mendelssohn with Yannick and Japan tour
Bernard Haitink retires
The world stopped...
Salzburg Mozartwoche with Yannick and Jean-Guihen Queyras. Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence with Schiff. First concert at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris). La Clemenza di Tito with Joyce DiDonato and Yannick in Baden-Baden. BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival with Haitink. Tour to Dubai with Robin Ticciati, the first of many projects with him. Yannick becomes Honorary Member of the COE.
Recording of all the Mendelssohn Symphonies with Yannick for DG in Paris. 35th anniversary concert with Sir András Schiff. Tours with Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Pappano, Leleux, Jurowski, Anderszewski, Kavakos, Norrington. Lucerne Festival with Haitink and Isabelle Faust. Tour to Japan with Nobuyuki Tsujii and COE Leader Lorenza Borrani.
Salzburg Mozartwoche with Robin Ticciati. Concerts at the Klara Festival in Belgium. European tour with Kavakos. Last project with Haitink in Lucerne and celebration of his 90th birthday. Tour with Pappano and Janine Jansen. Start of Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle. First project with Daniel Harding.
Tour with Yuja Wang to Italy and Spain. Musica-Musika Festival in Bilbao featuring COE principal flute Clara Andrada. First tour to South Korea with Kavakos. Tour with Pappano, Lisa Batiashvili, Veronika Eberle. Musica Viva Festival in Munich with Aimard. Magic Flute in Baden-Baden with Yannick. Launch of partnership with Kronberg Academy.
Cancellation of all projects from March onwards, including substantial Beethoven symphony cycle with Yannick for Beethoven's 250th birthday. First project with Sir Simon Rattle, also violinist Vilde Frang, in Berlin in October. Release of archive recording of our Schubert Symphonies with Harnoncourt (1988) and launch of the COE podcast, Interlude.
chamber orchestra of europe
2023
2022
2021
Schumann with Beatrice Rana
The COE in Spain
Beethoven cycle
Two projects in Spain: Festival de Canarias with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and tour with Daniel Harding. Completion of Brahms Symphony cycle in Baden-Baden with Yannick. Release of Schumann Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana. Several tours with Robin Ticciati and celebration of his 40th birthday in Bordeaux. Start of annual concerts at the Grange au Lac in Evian. Several concerts in Kronberg and Eisenstadt. Tour with Pappano and Rana.
First ever COE concerts in Norway, with Vilde Frang and Rafael Payare, Tour with Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kožená. Beethoven piano concerto cycle with Jan Lisiecki. Brahms Symphony cycle with Yannick in Baden-Baden. Recording of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana. Several tours with Robin Ticciati. Launch of residencies in Kronberg and Eisenstadt. Tour to South Korea. Tour with Pappano and Janine Jansen.
Performance to a reduced audience and recording of all Beethoven Symphonies with Yannick in Baden-Baden in July. Rheingau Festival with Kronberg Academy soloists, Concerts in Hamburg in August led by Lorenza Borrani. Concert with Piotr Anderszewski in Bordeaux and concerts with Sir András Schiff,
How it all started with Nikolaus...
These first concerts led to an invitation from Harnoncourt and the Styriarte Festival in Graz to continue the experiment. The Graz periods which followed were decisive in the development and maturing of this musical collaboration. Weeks and weeks of Haydn, Schubert, Mozart and, of course, Beethoven (and later Schumann , Wagner, Offenbach, Bartok, Gershwin…!!), enabled us to develop a unique musical vantage point and style which is still intact and influential today.
The rapport and working style of Harnoncourt and the COE was a combination of intensive concentration and humour. Harnoncourt’s colourful and creative brand of descriptive English has become second nature to us: “chicken skin”, “tongues like broken glass” (direction to the wind players to change their embouchure), “vats” (or showers!) of Cumberland sauce” and other terms have become standard terminology. The concept that “beauty is on the edge of safety (or catastrophe)”was proposed to us by Harnoncourt from the very beginning with regard to taking technical risks for the sake of musical expression. More than a revelation for us, this idea is a confirmation of a basic musical credo which the COE and Harnoncourt always had in common. Ultimately, every player in the Orchestra must decide individually how much the risk he or she is willing to take for the collective effort. Harnoncourt’s trust and respect for these decisions, combined with his encouragement, inexhaustible energy , fantasy and joy of music making, allowed this very special collaboration to develop and grow, keeping the music we play insightful, fresh and ever-changing." Dane Roberts, COE Double-Bass
"The first rehearsals in October 1986 took place in a musty recording studio in the bowels of the Wiener Konzerthaus. This musical “blind date” was arranged by an adventurous (visionary?) impresario and subtly nudged along by a handful of COE members who had contact with Nikolaus Harnoncourt through other ensembles. At the time no one could have foreseen the outcome of this venture. Beethoven’s Sixth and Eighth Symphonies, both pieces the COE had performed extensively, were the first to be rehearsed and the impressions of those earliest rehearsals remain strongly implanted in our minds. Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s strong musical-historical perspective, combined with his extraordinary imagination and his ability to effectively communicate and synthesise them both, quite naturally matched the COE’s desire for “answers” and its ability to transfer – usually very quickly – complex concepts into the orchestral context. We quickly and readily grasped the ideas and techniques of a rhetorical approach to music-making. The results were often instantaneous. The monumental Fifth Symphony ended our first set of concerts. Playing this piece for the first time, the Orchestra was possessed by the music and the new musical language it was learning. So possessed was it, in fact, that still today many cannot remember how the concert actually was. One certain memory is that, after the final chord there was only silence followed by a loud groan from a member of the audience and then a spattering of applause which slowly grew.
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chamber orchestra of europe
1982
1983
1984
1985
1981
First European tour
First tour to Australia
The COE is born
Viaggio a Reims
USA Tour
First major European tour with Claudio Abbado to France, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands.
COE launch concert on 18th May 1981 at London's Merchant Taylor's Hall. COE concert at the Barbican Hall before the hall had even opened (acoustic test). First opera performance and tour abroad with Maurizio Pollini, performing La Donna del Lago in Pesaro.
Performance and recording of Rossini's Viaggio a Reims in Pesaro with Claudio Abbado which received a Gramophone Record of the Year Award. Concert behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest. International tours to France, Italy, Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Israel.
First tour to Australia with conductor Jacek Kasprzyk. Return to Pesaro to perform and record La Donna del Lago with Pollini. Edinburgh Festival with Alexander Schneider.
13 concerts in the USA with Claudio Abbado, James Judd, and Alexander Schneider. Filmed a Rossini anniversary spectacular gala concert in Versailles with Montserrat Caballe, Marylin Horne and Samuel Ramey (in costumes!). First project with Sir András Schiff at the Lichfield Festival with George Malcolm, Sándor Végh and Heinz Holliger.
chamber orchestra of europe
1987
1988
1989
1990
1986
First Styriarte Festival
Residency in Berlin
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Residency in Ferrara
Recording, recording, recording...
First invitation to the Styriarte Festival in Graz with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, where we then went every year for nearly 30 years. European tour with Gidon Kremer, USA tour with Lorin Maazel. Concerts in Finland with Paavo Berglund. Salzburg Festival with Abbado. Italian tour with Schneider.
First Gramophone of the Year Award for Rossini's Viaggio a Reims with Claudio Abbado. First project with Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies at the Vienna Konzerthaus. Salzburg Festival debut, BBC proms and Edinburgh Festival.
Start of our long-lasting residency in Ferrara. Performances and recording of all the Bach keyboard concertos with Sir András Schiff. European tour with Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich. The COE was in Berlin just after the Wall fell.
Second Gramophone of the Year Award for our Schubert Symphony Cycle with Abbado. Start of residency at the Kammermusiksaal in Berlin. Tour to Hong Kong, USA and Japan (which was hit by an earthquake!). Performances and recording of Schubert's Fierrabras with Abbado in Vienna.
Recording of Schubert's Fierrabras wins international awards. Performance and recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos for DG. First project with Sir Roger Norrington. Performance and recording of all of the Beethoven symphonies with Harnoncourt. Live recording and TV broadcast of choral pieces with Abbado in Vienna.
chamber orchestra of europe
1992
1993
1994
1995
1991
Beethoven * a million!
10 years on...
A convent in Ferrara
Beethoven in Salzburg
Sibelius with Berglund
Release of the Beethoven Symphonies with Nikolaus Harnoncourt which has sold over a million copies worldwide. Rossini's bi-centenary celebrations with performances of Viaggio a Reims and recording of Barber of Seville. Salzburg Festival with Harnoncourt and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
10th anniversary of the COE and celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death at Vienna's Musikverein. Launch of the COE football team in Ferrara with secret weapon: Iris Juda! 6-part TV documentary, 'Living Music', about the COE on UK Television. Tour to Japan with Claudio Abbado.
Beethoven Symphonies performed twice at the Salzburg Festival. Mozart operas in Ferrara with Abbado and London, Cologne, Stuttgart and Paris with Solti. Beethoven's Fidelio in Graz with Harnoncourt.
Performance and recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with COE Leader Marieke Blankestijn. Recording of live performances of Schumann Symphonies in Graz with Harnoncourt. Tours with Abbado. Renovation of the Santo Spirito Convent in Ferrara to accommodate the COE, as they visited so often!
Performance of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with Harnoncourt for the 75th anniversary of Salzburg Festival. Release of recording of Cosi Fan Tutte with Solti. Barber of Seville with Abbado in Ferrara. Schumann's Symphonies and Schubert Masses with Harnoncourt in Graz. Sibelius Symphony cycle with Berglund recorded for Finlandia.
chamber orchestra of europe
1997
1998
1999
2000
1996
Don Giovanni in Ferrara
Sibelius and Paavo Berglund
Beethoven in New York
Happy birthday Nikolaus!
Slavonic Dances
Touring and recording of the Brahms Symphonies with Paavo Berglund. Performance and recording of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances with Harnoncourt in Graz, a highlight of the year. Tour to Japan with Emmanuel Krivine, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky and Akiko Suwanai.
Schubert symphonies and songs with Abbado at Salzburg and Berlin Festivals. Double cycle of Brahms Symphonies in Graz with Harnoncourt. Don Giovanni with Abbado in Ferrara... also recreated by the COE and Bryn Terfel at Settimo's!
Invited to perform Beethoven Symphonies with Harnoncourt at New York's Carnegie Hall. Recording of Haydn's Cello Concertos with Steven Isserlis and Roger Norrington. European tour with Abbado and Pavarotti. Marriage of Figaro at Salzburg Festival.
Tours with Herbert Blomstedt and Christian Tetzlaff, as well as Sir András Schiff. Celebration of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's 70th birthday with a European tour, ending up at the Musikverein in Vienna.
Release of our Sibelius Symphony cycle with Paavo Berglund recorded for Finlandia. Toured the Sibelius and Brahms Symphonies with him. Schumann's opera Paradies und die Peri in Graz with Harnoncourt.
chamber orchestra of europe
2002
2003
2004
2005
2001
"Best orchestra in Europe" (FT)
The COE in the USA
A golden anniversary and a Duchess
Happy 20th birthday COE!
Magic Flute and Carmen
COE's recording of Dvorak's Slavonic Dances awarded Gramophone Magazine's Orchestral Record of the Year 2002. Concerts with Sir András Schiff at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals. Last ever project with Claudio Abbado. Beethoven and Schubert in Graz with Harnoncourt and Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Release of Brahms Symphony cycle with Berglund. European tour celebrating Alfred Brendel's 70th birthday. Celebrating Wigmore Hall's 100th birthday with Sir András Schiff. Styriarte Festival with Harnoncourt and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. COE's 20th birthday concert at St John, Smith's Square, London.
Appointed first resident orchestra at the Salzburg Mozartwoche. Concerts with Mitsuko Uchida. Concerts and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert in Graz with Harnoncourt, Aimard, Hagen, Zehetmair. Tour to the USA with Sir András Schiff (Bach & Mendelssohn)
Grammy award for our Schubert songs recorded the previous year with Abbado, Anne-Sofie von Otter and Thomas Quasthoff. Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein in Graz with Harnoncourt... in costumes! Celebration of Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt's Golden Wedding Anniversary.
COE selected by Kenneth Branagh for his production of The Magic Flute. Première of Thomas Adès' Violin Concerto with Anthony Marwood. Tour to Japan with François Leleux and Akiko Suwanai. Fully-staged performance of Carmen in Graz with Harnoncourt. Recording Mozart Piano Concertos with Aimard.
chamber orchestra of europe
2007
2008
2009
2010
2006
Cultural Ambassador for Europe
Haitink and Nezet-Seguin
The COE turns 25!
Porgy and Bess
The COE on DVD and on the waves
COE appointed Cultural Ambassador by the EU Commission (2007-2013). Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome in Luxemburg. Performances, live broadcast and DVD recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Mass in C with Harnoncourt in Graz.
COE 25th anniversary concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The Daily Telegraph says the COE is "the best chamber orchestra in the world". Celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth in Salzburg. Agreement of a 3-year residency at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
Collaboration with St Paul's Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, USA. First tour with Vladimir Jurowski and also Hélène Grimaud and DVD recording of Ravel's Piano Concerto in Paris. Beethoven cycle at the Lucerne Festival with Haitink. Fully-staged performances of Porgy & Bess in Graz with Harnoncourt. Celebration of the 10th anniversary of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Tour with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Lisa Batiashvili.
Start of our residency at the Gulbenkian Foundation with concerts with Dougie Boyd and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Appointment of Lorenza Borrani as co-Leader alongside Marieke Blankestijn. Start of a Beethoven Symphony Cycle at the Lucerne Festival with Bernard Haitink. Tour to Spain with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Janine Jansen.
First live-streamed broadcast from the Cité de la musique in Paris on ARTE and Radio France. Release of 3 DVDs, including Beethoven at the Styriarte (from 2007). USA tour with Aimard. Smetana's Ma Vlast with Harnoncourt in Graz. European tour with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and completion of Beethoven cycle in Lucerne with Haitink. Tour with Jurowski and Joshua Bell to France and Italy.
chamber orchestra of europe
2012
2013
2014
2015
2011
Mozart in Baden-Baden
Bluebeard!
The COE turns 30
Happy birthday Bernard!
The Last Sausage
Completion of Beethoven cycle with Haitink in Amsterdam and Paris. Dvorak's Stabat Mater in Graz with Harnoncourt. First Mozart opera project in Baden-Baden with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Rolando Villazon (Cosi fan tutte) - first of a series of late Mozart opera recordings for DG. Lucerne Festival with Haitink.
Performance of Haydn's Creation in Budapest on 1st January. Celebration of COE's 30th anniversary with a Friends' concert at St John, Smith's Square in London. BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival and Beethoven cycle in Amsterdam and Paris with Bernard Haitink. Smetana's Bartered Bride performed and recorded with Harnoncourt in Graz.
Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence with Martha Argerich and Emmanuel Krivine. Residency at Aldeburgh Festival. Concerts celebrating Bernard Haitink's 85th birthday in Lucerne, London, Amsterdam and Paris. Release of our Schumann symphonies with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Mozart's Entführung aus dem Serail in Baden-Baden.
Fully staged production of Don Giovanni in Dijon with Gerard Korsten. Celebration of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw's 125th anniversary with Bernard Haitink and Janine Jansen. Release of our recordings of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Quintet with Romain Guyot. Bluebeard in Graz - last full project with Harnoncourt.
Last ever project in Graz at the Styriarte, with Karina Canellakis - and last ever after-concert outing at the Wurstelstand on the main square. Concert with Jurowski and Lupu at the newly opened Auditorium in Bordeaux. Summer of concerts with Yannick and recording of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in Baden-Baden. Sibelius Symphony cycle at Turku Festival with Oramo. Concerts with Haitink at BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Amsterdam, Lugano and Vienna.
chamber orchestra of europe
2017
2018
2019
2020
2016
Dubai with Robin Ticciati
Magic Flute in Baden-Baden
Mendelssohn with Yannick and Japan tour
Bernard Haitink retires
The world stopped...
Salzburg Mozartwoche with Yannick and Jean-Guihen Queyras. Festival de Pâques in Aix-en-Provence with Schiff. First concert at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris). La Clemenza di Tito with Joyce DiDonato and Yannick in Baden-Baden. BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival with Haitink. Tour to Dubai with Robin Ticciati, the first of many projects with him. Yannick becomes Honorary Member of the COE.
Recording of all the Mendelssohn Symphonies with Yannick for DG in Paris. 35th anniversary concert with Sir András Schiff. Tours with Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Pappano, Leleux, Jurowski, Anderszewski, Kavakos, Norrington. Lucerne Festival with Haitink and Isabelle Faust. Tour to Japan with Nobuyuki Tsujii and COE Leader Lorenza Borrani.
Salzburg Mozartwoche with Robin Ticciati. Concerts at the Klara Festival in Belgium. European tour with Kavakos. Last project with Haitink in Lucerne and celebration of his 90th birthday. Tour with Pappano and Janine Jansen. Start of Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle. First project with Daniel Harding.
Tour with Yuja Wang to Italy and Spain. Musica-Musika Festival in Bilbao featuring COE principal flute Clara Andrada. First tour to South Korea with Kavakos. Tour with Pappano, Lisa Batiashvili, Veronika Eberle. Musica Viva Festival in Munich with Aimard. Magic Flute in Baden-Baden with Yannick. Launch of partnership with Kronberg Academy.
Cancellation of all projects from March onwards, including substantial Beethoven symphony cycle with Yannick for Beethoven's 250th birthday. First project with Sir Simon Rattle, also violinist Vilde Frang, in Berlin in October. Release of archive recording of our Schubert Symphonies with Harnoncourt (1988) and launch of the COE podcast, Interlude.
chamber orchestra of europe
2023
2022
2021
Schumann with Beatrice Rana
The COE in Spain
Beethoven cycle
Two projects in Spain: Festival de Canarias with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and tour with Daniel Harding. Completion of Brahms Symphony cycle in Baden-Baden with Yannick. Release of Schumann Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana. Several tours with Robin Ticciati and celebration of his 40th birthday in Bordeaux. Start of annual concerts at the Grange au Lac in Evian. Several concerts in Kronberg and Eisenstadt. Tour with Pappano and Rana.
First ever COE concerts in Norway, with Vilde Frang and Rafael Payare, Tour with Sir Simon Rattle and Magdalena Kožená. Beethoven piano concerto cycle with Jan Lisiecki. Brahms Symphony cycle with Yannick in Baden-Baden. Recording of Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana. Several tours with Robin Ticciati. Launch of residencies in Kronberg and Eisenstadt. Tour to South Korea. Tour with Pappano and Janine Jansen.
Performance to a reduced audience and recording of all Beethoven Symphonies with Yannick in Baden-Baden in July. Rheingau Festival with Kronberg Academy soloists, Concerts in Hamburg in August led by Lorenza Borrani. Concert with Piotr Anderszewski in Bordeaux and concerts with Sir András Schiff,
How it all started with Nikolaus...
These first concerts led to an invitation from Harnoncourt and the Styriarte Festival in Graz to continue the experiment. The Graz periods which followed were decisive in the development and maturing of this musical collaboration. Weeks and weeks of Haydn, Schubert, Mozart and, of course, Beethoven (and later Schumann , Wagner, Offenbach, Bartok, Gershwin…!!), enabled us to develop a unique musical vantage point and style which is still intact and influential today. The rapport and working style of Harnoncourt and the COE was a combination of intensive concentration and humour. Harnoncourt’s colourful and creative brand of descriptive English has become second nature to us: “chicken skin”, “tongues like broken glass” (direction to the wind players to change their embouchure), “vats” (or showers!) of Cumberland sauce” and other terms have become standard terminology. The concept that “beauty is on the edge of safety (or catastrophe)”was proposed to us by Harnoncourt from the very beginning with regard to taking technical risks for the sake of musical expression. More than a revelation for us, this idea is a confirmation of a basic musical credo which the COE and Harnoncourt always had in common. Ultimately, every player in the Orchestra must decide individually how much the risk he or she is willing to take for the collective effort. Harnoncourt’s trust and respect for these decisions, combined with his encouragement, inexhaustible energy , fantasy and joy of music making, allowed this very special collaboration to develop and grow, keeping the music we play insightful, fresh and ever-changing." Dane Roberts, COE Double-Bass
"The first rehearsals in October 1986 took place in a musty recording studio in the bowels of the Wiener Konzerthaus. This musical “blind date” was arranged by an adventurous (visionary?) impresario and subtly nudged along by a handful of COE members who had contact with Nikolaus Harnoncourt through other ensembles. At the time no one could have foreseen the outcome of this venture. Beethoven’s Sixth and Eighth Symphonies, both pieces the COE had performed extensively, were the first to be rehearsed and the impressions of those earliest rehearsals remain strongly implanted in our minds. Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s strong musical-historical perspective, combined with his extraordinary imagination and his ability to effectively communicate and synthesise them both, quite naturally matched the COE’s desire for “answers” and its ability to transfer – usually very quickly – complex concepts into the orchestral context. We quickly and readily grasped the ideas and techniques of a rhetorical approach to music-making. The results were often instantaneous. The monumental Fifth Symphony ended our first set of concerts. Playing this piece for the first time, the Orchestra was possessed by the music and the new musical language it was learning. So possessed was it, in fact, that still today many cannot remember how the concert actually was. One certain memory is that, after the final chord there was only silence followed by a loud groan from a member of the audience and then a spattering of applause which slowly grew.