Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment & Sir Mark Elder
Biography Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment & Sir Mark Elder
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Ok, it’s a not very snappy name, so we tend to call ourselves the OAE. The OAE is probably one of the top ‘period instrument’ Orchestras in the world. What does this mean? Well, over the years instruments and techniques have changed. We try to be authentic, by using instruments and playing styles similar to those the composer would have been familiar with. You get to hear what Vivaldi actually wrote, not a modern version of it.
You might be wondering what difference this makes to the actual sound. Well, it tends to be a more edgy sound than polished modern orchestras. It’s a gutsy and definitely a less ‘polite’ sound. Plus the OAE is well known for its sheer enthusiasm for music, which comes across at every performance.
Now more than 30 years old, the OAE has become one of the UK’s top orchestras. We’ve released over 50 albums and have toured the world, from the USA to South East Asia, working with some of the biggest names in classical music. We've chosen not to have a permanent musical director, which gives us the flexibility to work with a range of soloists and conductors across a wide range of music.
We are a resident orchestra at London's Southbank Centre, and give around 12 concerts a year there, but that’s only part of what we do. Our regular Sunday morning series Bach, the Universe & Everything combines cantatas with invigorating talks from leading scientists at Kings Place, while our Night Shift series takes our musicians from 400-year old pubs in Whitechapel to clubs in Peckham. We’re an associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and regularly tour our programmes nationally and internationally. On top of that, our education department reaches around 20,000 participants per year around England.
Sir Mark Elder
is Music Director of the Hallé, a Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of Opera Rara. He was Music Director of English National Opera from 1979 to 1993 and has been Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Mozart Players. He has appeared annually at the Proms in London since his debut in 1975, including the internationally televised Last Night in 1987 and 2006, and has enjoyed a long association with Chicago Symphony Orchestra since his debut in 1983.
He has appeared regularly in many of the most prominent international opera houses, including Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Opéra National de Paris, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Glyndebourne and was the first British conductor to conduct a new production at the Bayreuth Festival.
Recent and forthcoming symphonic engagements, apart from his commitment to the Hallé, include the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Gürzenich Orchester, Australian Youth Orchestra, London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Britten Sinfonia and the OAE. He conducted four of the 2012 BBC Proms including performances with the Hallé and Aldeburgh World Orchestra as well as with the BBC Symphony at The First Night of the Proms. Operatic engagements include King Roger at the Bregenz Festival, Tannhäuser at the Opéra National de Paris, Billy Budd for Glyndebourne, Wonderful Town with the Hallé and several productions for Covent Garden, including The Tsar’s Bride, Fidelio and Wozzeck..In the 2013 Proms he conducted an acclaimed performcne fo Parsifal with the Hallé.
In November 2011 he co-presented BBCTV’s four part series ‘Symphony’ and in 2012 was chair of the judging panel on BBCTV 2’s Maestro at the Opera.
Sir Mark Elder was knighted in 2008 and awarded the CBE in 1989. In May 2006 he was named Conductor of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society and was awarded Honorary Membership of the RPS in 2011. He received Gramophone Awards in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 for his Hallé recordings of Götterdämmerung, The Dream of Gerontius, The Kingdom, Elgar’s Violin Concerto and The Apostles.
