English Baroque Soloists

The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque period to the Classical period.

For Philips it has recorded all of the mature symphonies (as well as the Requiem and Mass in C minor) and for DG Archiv it has recorded the complete piano concerto cycle with Malcolm Bilson, the first on period instruments.

1990 saw the launch of the six-year project to perform throughout Europe, and record for DG Archiv, the seven mature operas by Mozart. The Mozart Opera Project culminated with the London performances in 1995 of Die Zauberflöte, the seventh and final work in this giant undertaking. The seven operas in this project, (Idomeneo, La Clemenza di Tito, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and most recently Die Zauberflöte) have now been released and have received outstanding critical acclaim, with the recording of Idomeneo, the first of the operas to be released, winning the Best Opera Award in the 1991 Gramophone Awards.

The international standing of the EBS has resulted in part from the enormous success of their foreign engagements. Invitations abroad have included such prestigious venues as La Scala, Milan, the outdoor amphitheatre in Pompeii, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, New York's Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and St Mark's, Venice. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.