The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

Ton Koopman Antonius Gerhardus Michael "Ton" Koopman (; born 2 October 1944) is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. He is a professor ...

. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992.Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
on Bach Cantatas, 2001 They have performed in concert halls such as the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

Amsterdam,

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

London,

Konzerthaus, Vienna The Konzerthaus is a concert hall located in Vienna, Austria, which opened in 1913. It is situated in the third district just at the edge of the first district in Vienna. Since it was founded it has always tried to emphasise both traditional and ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

New York and Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. The first concert of the choir and orchestra premiered two works of

Heinrich Ignaz Biber Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber correctly ''Biber von Bibern'' ( bapt. 12 August 1644, Stráž pod Ralskem – 3 May 1704, Salzburg) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Biber worked in Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left ...

, ''Requiem'' (for 15 voices) and ''Vespers'' (for 32 voices), at the 1992 Festival of Early Music in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. In 1994, Koopman embarked on a ten-year project to conduct the group in recordings and performances of the complete vocal works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

. His more than 200

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning ...

were recorded in 22 volumes, first under the label

Erato In Greek mythology, Erato (; ) is one of the Greek Muses, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius of Rhodes playfully sugge ...

, since 2003 Challenge / Antoine Marchand Records, reissuing also the former volumes. Soloists for this project included sopranos Els Bongers, Ruth Holton, Lisa Larsson, Marlis Petersen,

Sandrine Piau Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Deb ...

, Dorothea Röschmann,

Sibylla Rubens Sibylla Rubens is a German classical concert soprano. Career Sibylla Rubens studied voice (concert and opera) at the Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen and at the Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt and in master classes with Edith Mathi ...

, Barbara Schlick,

Caroline Stam Caroline Stam is a Dutch classical soprano who has an international (European) performing career specializing in baroque repertoire, reinforced by a distinguished presence in modern recordings (see below). Education Stam studied voice at the ...

(a member of the choir from the beginning),

Deborah York Deborah York, born 1964 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, is a classical soprano in concert and opera, and a teacher and conductor. She has British and German nationalities and has been living in Berlin since 1996. Biography York studied piano ...

, Ruth Ziesak and

Johannette Zomer Johannette Zomer (born March 13, 1964) is a Dutch classical concert and opera soprano. Career After having worked as a microbiology technician, Johannette Zomer shifted gears in 1990 and studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam i ...

, altos

Bogna Bartosz Bogna Bartosz (born in Gdańsk) is a Polish-German classical mezzo-soprano and alto. She lives in Berlin. Career Bogna Bartosz studied voice at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and graduated with distinction. She then studied at the Berlin Unive ...

Michael Chance Michael Chance CBE (born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, 7 March 1955) is an English countertenor and the founder and Artistic Director of The Grange Festival. Early life Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After grow ...

Franziska Gottwald Franziska Gottwald (born in Marburg) is a German mezzo-soprano singer in opera and concert. Career Franziska Gottwald received her first voice training at the age of 16 with Eugen Rabine and studied voice at the Academies of Music in Saarbrüc ...

, Bernhard Landauer,

Elisabeth von Magnus Elisabeth von Magnus (born Countess Elisabeth Juliana de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt on 29 May 1954) is an Austrian classical mezzo-soprano. The daughter of conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and violinist Alice Harnoncourt, her profes ...

Annette Markert Annette Markert (born in Kaltensundheim, Thuringia) is a German classical mezzo-soprano and contralalto. Career Annette Markert studied voice at the Leipzig School of Music and was engaged at the Halle Opera House in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt from ...

Andreas Scholl Andreas Scholl (born 10 November 1967) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music. Born into a family of singers, Scholl was enrolled at the age of seven into the Kiedricher Chorbube ...

, Nathalie Stutzmann and Kai Wessel, tenors

Paul Agnew Paul Agnew (born 11 April 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor. Biography Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathe ...

, Jörg Dürmüller, James Gilchrist,

Guy de Mey Guy de Mey (born 4 August 1955) is a Belgian operatic tenor. Life and career Guy de Mey was born in Hamme, Belgium on 4 August 1955. He began his education at the Brussels Conservatory where he was a pupil of Stella Dalberg. He pursued further s ...

Christoph Prégardien Christoph Prégardien (born 18 January 1956) is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music. He is well known for his performances a ...

and Gerd Türk, and bass

Klaus Mertens Klaus Mertens (born 25 March 1949, in Kleve) is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice. Career Klaus Mertens took singing lessons wh ...

. In 2005 they commenced a project

Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia Dieterich Buxtehude – Opera Omnia is a project to record the complete works (in Latin: opera omnia) of the Danish Baroque composer Dieterich Buxtehude,

to record the complete works of

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; born Diderich Hansen Buxtehude, ; – 9 May 1707) was a Danish composer and organist of the Baroque music, Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...

(completed in 2014). Singers for this project have additionally included sopranos , ,

Siri Thornhill Siri Karoline Thornhill is a Norwegian classical soprano for concert and opera, known for singing music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Career Thornhill studied singing first in her hometown Stavanger with Marit Storækre and continued with a schola ...

, Orlanda Velez Isidro, altos Robin Blaze, Patrick Van Goethem, Hugo Naessens, Daniel Taylor, tenor

Andreas Karasiak Andreas Karasiak (born 1968) is a German classical tenor in opera and concert. Career Andreas Karasiak studied voice at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz with Claudia Eder. He studied Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis w ...

and bass Donald Bentvelsen.Dieterich Buxtehude - Opera Omnia

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir Early music choirs Early music orchestras Musical groups established in 1979 Musical groups established in 1992 1979 establishments in the Netherlands Dutch choirs Orchestras in Amsterdam