Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

We are a ‘period instrument’ orchestra formed in 1986 specialising in music composed between the 17th and 19th Centuries (and occasionally beyond) – by composers such as Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and many, many others. We play on instruments – or replicas of instruments – from the time the music we play was written. Our sound is rooted in research and experiments to discover how these instruments were played. The result is a vivid contrast with the sounds of a ‘modern’ symphony orchestra that highlights the ongoing developments of musical language.