English Chamber Orchestra

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The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a chamber orchestra based in London .

It has its roots in the Goldsbrough Orchestra , which was founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard and Arnold Goldsbrough . The orchestra took on its current name in 1960 when it first expanded its program beyond baroque music . The repertoire is limited by the size of the group, which remained fairly constant about the size of an orchestra from Mozart's time.

A little later, it entered into a close collaboration with the Aldeburgh Festival , where it premiered Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream , Owen Wingrave , Curlew River and other works. Britten conducted the orchestra on various occasions and made a number of recordings with him.

At that time the orchestra did not have a permanent conductor, but worked with a number of guest conductors, including a. with Raymond Leppard , Colin Davis and Daniel Barenboim . In 1985 Jeffrey Tate was appointed the ensemble's first chief conductor.

In 2000, Ralf Gothóni was appointed chief conductor. The orchestra worked u. a. with the South African vocal ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo on their album No Boundaries in January 2005.

In 2009 Paul Watkins took over the direction of the orchestra as music director on a three-year contract.

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. Martin Cullingford: Cellist and conductor Paul Watkins has been named as the music director of the English Chamber Orchestra. In: All conducting master classes. June 19, 2009 (English).;