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Artists · The English Concert

The English Concert Youtube

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.

Under the 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.

‘The English Concert were nothing short of brilliant. Sporting perfectly tight ensemble, spacious and ringing tone, a variety of colors, gleaming strings and clean, forceful brass, they are the model of a period chamber orchestra in every sense.’

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. We launched our partnership with Garsington Opera in 2019 with performances of Monterverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and look forward to our first season in residence with a production of Handel’s Amadigi this summer.

The English Concert Photo Richard Haughton  Ld
The English Concert © Richard Haughton

Harry Bicket

Harry Bicket © Dario Acosta
Harry Bicket © Dario Acosta

Internationally renowned as an opera and concert conductor of distinction, Harry Bicket is especially noted for his interpretation of baroque and classical repertoire and since 2007 has been Artistic Director of The English Concert, one of Europe’s finest period orchestras. In 2013, following regular guest appearances for Santa Fe Opera, he became their Chief Conductor and in 2018 assumed the Music Directorship. In Santa Fe, he has led productions of Fidelio, La Finta Giardiniera, Romeo et Juliette, Alcina, Candide and Cosi fan tutte. In the 2019 season, he also performed Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Renee Fleming. Born in Liverpool, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University.

The English Concert tour of Rodelinda, planned for Spring 2020, fell victim to the severe disruption caused by Covid-19, though, remarkably, a studio recording was swiftly re-planned and made observing the current restrictions and is due for release later this season. The English Concert also revised its planning to include a series of small-scale, highly-successful live streamed concerts from historic venues in the London area. Guest engagements later this season will include Bergen National Opera (La clemenza di Tito). In summer 2021, Harry returns to Santa Fe Opera to lead productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Le nozze di Figaro.

Following the success in earlier seasons of Rinaldo and Ariodante featuring Joyce DiDonato, The English Concert continued its Handel opera series with performances of Semele in Europe and the United States, which included Theatre des Champs-Elysées, Barbican Centre and Carnegie Hall. Other highlights with The English Concert have included his own arrangements of Mozart works for mechanical clockwork organ, Bach Cantatas for Advent and Wayne Eagling’s Remembrance ballet, set to Handel’s Ode to St Cecilia’s Day, for English National Ballet Theatre.

In addition to his regular Santa Fe productions, recent North American seasons have included Metropolitan Opera (most recently The Magic Flute, also Le nozze di Figaro, Rodelinda, La clemenza di Tito, Giulio Cesare, Agrippina and Cosi fan tutte); Lyric Opera of Chicago (Ariodante, Orphée et Eurydice, Carmen, Rinaldo); Houston Grand Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Rusalka); and Canadian Opera Company (Maometto II, Hercules). Symphonic guest conducting has included Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (including Cincinnati May Festival), New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony, St Paul Chamber Orchestra, NACO Ottawa, Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has also led masterclasses with the Juilliard School.

European conducting has ranged from opera for Liceu Barcelona (including Agrippina, Lucio Silla, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Opéra de Bordeaux (Alcina) and Theater an der Wien (Iphigenie en Tauride, Mitridate), to concert projects with Prague Philharmonia, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Bayerische Rundfunk, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Earlier work outside of Europe included his Japanese debut with Ian Bostridge and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic.

Opera has also included Minnesota Opera (Croesus), Opera Australia (Giulio Cesare), Scottish Opera (Orfeo), New York City Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Clemenza di Tito, Rinaldo), Royal Danish Opera (Orfeo), Glimmerglass Festival (Partenope, Agrippina), New Israeli Opera (L'incoronazione di Poppea), Aldeburgh Festival (Faerie Queen), Edinburgh Festival (La clemenza di Tito), Spoleto Festival (Giasone, Tamerlano, L’ile de Merlin), English National Opera (Orfeo, Ariodante, Semele, Xerxes, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda), Bayerische Staatsoper (Rinaldo, Ariodante, Serse, Orlando, Orfeo ed Euridice, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Die Zauberflöte), Welsh National Opera (La clemenza di Tito), and Opera North (Radamisto, Return of Ulysses, The Magic Flute, Croesus), Los Angeles Opera (Giulio Cesare, L'incoronazione di Poppea).

He made his Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1996 with Peter Sellars’ landmark production of Theodora and returned in 1999 and 2003. In 2004 his first Metropolitan Opera production (an acclaimed new production of Rodelinda with Renée Fleming and David Daniels) was quickly followed by Giulio Cesare (2006/7) and La Clemenza di Tito (2008) and he is now a regular guest. In 2001 his first Barcelona production, Giulio Cesare, earned him the Opera Critics’ Prize for best conductor and in 2003 his debut production for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Handel’s Orlando) received an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Opera Production. In the same year he  conducted Lyric Opera of Chicago for the first time and has since returned regularly. He was awarded HonRAM in 2018.

Recordings to date with The English Concert include releases for Virgin Classics, Chandos, and Harmonia Mundi featuring Elizabeth Watts, David Daniels, Lucy Crowe, Sarah Connolly and Rosemary Joshua and, most recently, a concerto disc released in September 2018 on Signum. 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), which was nominated for a Grammy Award. His Gramophone Award- nominated CDs also include Sento Amor with David Danielsfeaturing arias by Gluck, Handel and Mozart (Virgin Veritas) and Il tenero  momento with Susan Graham featuring arias by Mozart and Gluck (Erato).

December 2020

Harry Bicket appears by arrangement with Askonas Holt.

Tec Harry Bicket Richard Haughton Square
Photo by Richard Haughton

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