Biography

Recognised as one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras, the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) has been at the forefront of international musical life for more than six decades. Renowned for the elegance of its sound, stylistic versatility and distinguished artistic collaborations, the orchestra has performed in over sixty countries and recorded an extensive catalogue that has become a benchmark for generations of listeners.

Founded in London in 1960, the ECO quickly established itself as one of Britain’s foremost ensembles, developing an exceptionally broad repertoire ranging from the Baroque to contemporary music. Throughout its history, it has collaborated with many of the greatest conductors and soloists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Benjamin Britten, Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida, Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, András Schiff, Maxim Vengerov, and Sir Simon Rattle, among many others.

The orchestra has enjoyed a particularly close artistic relationship with Daniel Barenboim, with whom it has undertaken numerous international tours and landmark recordings. Its extensive discography includes more than 800 recordings, among them acclaimed interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Bach and Britten, as well as the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to Amadeus, one of the most celebrated recordings in the history of classical music.

Regularly invited to the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals—including the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Musikverein Vienna, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms—the English Chamber Orchestra has earned an international reputation for musical refinement, stylistic integrity and artistic excellence.