Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
'Ton Koopman’s enthusiasm for the bread and butter of his long career – for the music of J.S. Bach, and for playing it with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, which he founded in 1979 – hasn’t faded. This all-Bach programme read like a greatest hits tracklist, yet the music sounded unflaggingly fresh.'
The Guardian
Orchestra
Ton Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. This group of internationally renowned Baroque specialists meets several times a year to work on beautiful new programs. Ton Koopman's boundless energy makes every concert a new experience, even for the musicians themselves. Together with and under the leadership of Ton Koopman, they are happy to enter into this close collaboration again and again.
Choir
The Amsterdam Baroque Choir was founded in 1992 and made its debut during the Holland Festival of Early Music in Utrecht, with two world premieres: the Requiem (for fifteen voices) and the Vespers (for thirty-two voices) by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. The recording of this concert received the Cannes Classical Award for the best performance of choral music from the 17th and 18th centuries. Due to the combination of textual clarity and interpretive flexibility, the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is considered one of the best choirs of our time.
ABO&C
Between 1994 and 2004, Ton Koopman and his Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir worked on one of the most ambitious recording projects ever: the integral recording of Bach's secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project they were awarded a Deutsche Schallplattenpreis Echo Klassik.
In 2014, another special recording project was completed: the recording of the complete works of Dieterich Buxtehude, one of the great examples of the young Johann Sebastian Bach. The Dieterich Buxtehude Opera Omnia CD series includes his harpsichord works, organ works, chamber music and vocal works.
In addition to the music of Bach and Buxtehude, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir has made recordings of many well-known and lesser-known works from the baroque and classical repertoire, ranging from Bach's Passions to all Mozart symphonies, and from concerti grossi by Locatelli to oud -Dutch Christmas carols. The orchestra and choir received many prizes for their recordings, including a Gramophone Award, Diapason d'Or, Prix Hector Berlioz, BBC Award and several Edisons. Ton Koopman and his ABO&C are regular guests in the major concert halls of Europe, America and Asia.