Prepare for an extraordinary journey through the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach with a series of captivating events spanning Manchester, London, and beyond. Join Associate Artist Jonathan Scott at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester to revel in the grand sounds of Bach and Mozart on September 4, 2024. Follow that up with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's stunning performance of the Brandenburg Concertos on November 5, 2024, also at The Bridgewater Hall. And don't miss the touring performances of the Brandenburg Concertos across various UK cities, including Basingstoke, London, Malvern, and Oxford from November 5 to November 20, 2024. Finally, return to Manchester on November 12, 2024, for another breathtaking performance by Jonathan Scott, featuring Bach's Fantasia & Fugue in G Minor.

Experience the Mastery of Bach: From Manchester to London

London is set to host a series of extraordinary events celebrating Robert Schumann, featuring performances at iconic venues like Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, and Barbican Centre. With tenors, pianists, and orchestras, these concerts will showcase Schumann's masterpieces, from the romantic Kerner Lieder Op. 35 to the imaginative Fantasiestücke and the lyrical Piano Concerto, alongside other classical gems. Join us for a journey through Schumann's musical brilliance.

Experience the Magic of Schumann Across London: A Series of Unforgettable Concerts

London is the place to be for Edward Elgar enthusiasts this season! From the serene choral works of The Sixteen at Royal Albert Hall to the grandeur of the Last Night of the Proms, there's something for every classical music lover. Don't miss the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Antonio Pappano, the youthful energy of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, or the intimate chamber music of the Nash Ensemble. Cap off the year with the New Year's Day Proms and explore the enigma of Elgar's Variations at Cadogan Hall and Southbank Centre.

Celebrate Edward Elgar: Must-See Musical Events in London

London is set to host a spectacular series of concert events that celebrate the genius of Felix Mendelssohn. From the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s dramatic interpretation of his ‘Scottish’ Symphony to an array of performances at the iconic Wigmore Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Barbican Centre, and Southbank Centre, audiences will be treated to a rich tapestry of Romantic-era masterpieces. Join renowned musicians like Curtis Phill Hsu, Julia Kleiter, Daniel Barenboim, Francesca Dego, and the London Symphony Orchestra as they bring Mendelssohn's works to life amidst the historic and vibrant backdrop of London.

Celebrating Mendelssohn in London: A Series of Unforgettable Concerts

London is set to resonate with the timeless symphonies of Anton Bruckner as the city hosts a series of monumental orchestral events. From the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall featuring the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra to Sir Simon Rattle’s first Proms appearance, and the evocative performances at Southbank Centre, these concerts promise to be a treat for classical music enthusiasts. Don't miss the London Philharmonic Orchestra's grand finale conducted by Karina Canellakis, celebrating Bruckner's 200th anniversary in style.

Celebrate Anton Bruckner in London: A Series of Orchestral Masterpieces

This November, immerse yourself in the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment brings the mesmerizing Brandenburg Concertos to various iconic locations including Manchester, London, and Oxford. Highlights include a one-night-only performance at The Bridgewater Hall, and the virtuoso Jonathan Scott showcasing the Marcussen Concert Organ.

Celebrate Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos Tour Across the UK

The first of two opportunities in the coming year to hear us performing Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony. Under Antonello Manacorda, its ideals of liberty, endurance and fortitude will undoubtedly remain undimmed. Before the interval, a too rare opportunity to hear the intensity, power and momentum of the Symphony No. 3 by the remarkable Louise Farrenc (1804 – 1875).

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Farrenc And Beethoven At Bbc Proms

Royal Albert Hall

Hear the incredible talent of the OAE Experience Ensemble as they perform a selection of baroque music led by Maggie Faultless (violin), featuring composers such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, John Blow, George Frideric Handel, and Jean-Philippe Rameau, as well as a ‘folky’ set. Refreshments will be available.

Teatime Baroque

Acland Burghley School

An ensemble of the OAE’s fine brass and percussion players takes us on a whirlwind tour through the development of brass instruments in Europe. Expect cask-loads of fun with fanfares, marches and concertos with the odd hosepipe demonstration along the way.

The Night Shift at The Water Rats

The Water Rats

Opened in 1974 on the banks of the Danube, the Brucknerhaus stands as a living monument to the composer. For this year’s BrucknerFest, marking both the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth and the venue’s own 50th, join forces with Adam Fischer for a compelling pairing of Brucker’s Symphony No. 5 with Mozart’s Requiem.

Bruckner considered Mozart’s Requiem to be a central work throughout his life and was an important reference point for his own church music. What is less well known, however, is that it served as a blueprint and a source of motifs for his Fifth Symphony. In addition to a literal quotation of the phrase “Qua resurget ex favilla, Iudicandus homo reus”  from the ‘Lacrymosa’  in the second movement of the symphony, almost all the themes of all four movements of the work refer to the Requiem.

Internationales BrucknerFest 24 with Adam Fischer

Brucknerhaus

Considered by many to be his symphonic masterpiece, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 represents the culmination of the first period of his time in Vienna. He had relocated to the city in 1868 from Linz, where he had been the organist at the ‘Old’ Cathedral and produced many of his fine choral works.

Curiously, Bruckner never heard this symphony performed by an orchestra. This performance, using instruments of the type that would have been familiar in Vienna at the time, gives us the rare chance to hear the symphony its composer imagined.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5

Southbank Centre

An evening of glistering 17th Century gems awaits. Our two sets will feature trio sonatas performed by a quartet* led by Kati Debretzeni – with Huw Daniel (violins), Jonathan Manson (cello) and Sergio Bucheli (theorbo) – from a pantheon of neglected doyens of instrumental music in the decades before JS Bach.

The Night Shift at The Old Queen’s Head

The Old Queens Head

Dive into the magic of music in this interactive workshop for children between two and five, sitting up-close to orchestral musicians and taking part with their parents, guardians and carers. Get inspired by the rhythms and tunes of Baroque music – it’s even better than pizza!

OAE TOTS: LPO FUNharmonics – An Italian Adventure

The Brandenburg Concertos present one of music’s great riddles. Bach sent them to Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg and brother of King Frederick I of Prussia, as a gift in 1721. For reasons unknown, he seems to have quietly filed them away after which they changed hands several times before being ‘lost’ until around 1850 when they were eventually published as a set. 

The Brandenburg Concertos On Tour

Wiltshire Music Centre

The Anvil

Malvern Theatres

The Bridgewater Hall

University of Oxford

Portsmouth Guildhall

Saffron Hall

We are nothing if not classy and ready to rise to a challenge at the OAE, so for one night only we bring all the style and revelry of the opera house to an east London inn.*

18th Century performers were pretty astute at spotting that one way to increase your audience ratings was to bring the operatic hits of the day to the gig. In that noble tradition, our flautists, Lisa Beznosiuk and Neil McLaren have compiled a pot-pourri of arrangements of Mozart’s opera arias and trios by Hoffmeister and Haydn

The Night Shift at The George Tavern

The George Tavern

You might already know the answers to these trivia questions, but if you don’t you almost certainly know the tunes. How did it come to be this way? Why are these tunes still everywhere today – from ringtones to soundtracks? And… are they over-rated?*

Baroquebusters

A Journey Through Baroque at Saffron Hall

That question may well have been in Beethoven’s mind in the early years of the 19th Century as the macro-politics of the day seemed to clash with his own mental health struggles. In 1802 Beethoven had written to his brothers distressed by his developing deafness. In the following years, Napoleon’s campaign to liberate Europe from tyrannous monarchies sparked hope in the composer. He dedicated his Symphony No. 3 to the consul, but before the work was performed in public, Napoleon declared himself Emperor. Beethoven famously eradicated the dedication from the cover page of the Symphony’s manuscript, declaring “So he is no more than a common mortal! Now he, too, will tread underfoot all the rights of man and indulge only his ambition” (according to Ferdinand Ries, at least).  

Beethoven: Hero/Rebel

How does a modern period instrument ensemble address the puzzle of under-representation of work by women composers? We’ve commissioned four of today’s most exciting composers – Roxanna Panufnik, Electra Perivolaris, Freya Waley-Cohen and Errollyn Wallen – to each write a new work inspired by a movement from Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr. The four pieces will frame a performance of the piece itself by Olga Pashchenko on fortepiano.

Das Jahr – The Year

It is a work of compelling theatricality. The drama is heightened by the collaboration between Bach and his librettist, Picander and the technically deft layering of the gospel texts and Lutheran chorales with meditations for soloists. Above all, the audience is thrust into the heart of the drama by the decision to make the choir active participants in the drama, almost as if we ourselves are standing in Pilate’s courtyard.

Bach: St Matthew Passion

The remarkable Sir András Schiff sprinkles fantasy and magic as he performs the most romantic of piano concertos. Schumann's only concerto for his own instrument is inspired by his wife Clara's supernatural virtuosity. Conjured up alongside is Felix Mendelssohn's impish music for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Schumann’s Piano Concerto

In 1898, as the new century approached Edward Elgar was 41, a composer of some repute but struggling for recognition. One evening he improvised variations upon a whimsical theme to his wife, Alice, inpsired by characteristics of his friends. It grew from something “commenced in a spirit of humour and continued in deep seriousness” into something more substantial. It is believed that Elgar hid another melody within his theme, but despite many theories being put forward the secret has never been cracked. 

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Sep 23, 2024

The Night Shift at The Water Rats

Oct 8, 2024

Internationales BrucknerFest 24 with Adam Fischer

Oct 13, 2024

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5

Oct 21, 2024

The Night Shift at The Old Queen’s Head

Oct 26, 2024

OAE TOTS: LPO FUNharmonics – An Italian Adventure

Sep 13, 2024

Farrenc And Beethoven At Bbc Proms

Sep 8, 2024

Teatime Baroque

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