Biographies

Since 2008 she is one of the leaders of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and has collaborated with Simon Rattle, Adam and Ivan Fischer, András Schiff, William Christie, Ottavio Dantone, Vladimir Jurowski, Maxim Emelyanychev and Ricardo Minasi. She has directed the group from the violinist’s chair in works ranging from Baroque repertoire to Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Berlioz, and has recorded Vivaldi’s Four Seasons following performances in collaboration with the Henri Oguike Dance Company.

Kati Debretzeni

A fourth generation musician, Kati Debretzeni began playing the violin with Sofia Szabó in her native Romania, finishing her studies with Ora Shiran in Israel.

Her passion for historical performance took her to London, where she studied the Baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh and Walter Reiter.

Since the year 2000 Kati leads the English Baroque Soloists under John Eliot Gardiner, with whom she has performed the world over. Her playing can be heard in the group’s recordings of J.S. Bach’s cantatas (recorded live during the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000), the Brandenburg concertos and the more recent recordings of the Mass in B Minor, the St Matthew Passion and Monteverdi’s operas. In 2018 she recorded violin concertos by JS Bach with the orchestra to critical acclaim, including her own arrangement of BWV 1053. In 2022 she performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante conducted by Gardiner in the US, UK and Italy.

Kati is in demand internationally as leader, soloist and director with groups such as Zefiro (Italy), Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra (Israel), Barokkanerne (Norway), Les Siècles and Amaryllis (France), Victoria Baroque (Canada) and the Budapest Bach Consort (Hungary).

A keen chamber musician, Kati has recorded award-winning CDs with Ricordo and Florilegium. In the last decade she is a member of Trio Goya.

As teacher, Kati has given masterclasses in the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Canada, Israel and Hungary. In 2022 she was invited to devise a programme of Baroque performance studies for string players at the Buchman Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv. She is on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and her former students make music the world over.

Jean-Guihen Queyras

Curiosity, diversity and a firm focus on the music itself characterize the artistic work of Jean Guihen Queyras. Whether on stage or on record, one experiences an artist dedicated completely and passionately to the music, whose humble and quite unpretentious treatment of the score reflects its clear, undistorted essence. The inner motivations of composer, performer and audience must all be in tune with one another in order to bring about an outstanding concert experience: JeanGuihen Queyras learnt this interpretative approach from Pierre Boulez, with whom he established a long artistic partnership. This philosophy, alongside a flawless technique and a clear, engaging tone, also shapes Jean-Guihen Queyras’ approach to every performance and his absolute commitment to the music itself.

His approaches to early music – as in his collaborations with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin – and to contemporary music are equally thorough. He has given world premieres of works by, among others, Ivan Fedele, Gilbert Amy, Bruno Mantovani, Michael Jarrell, Johannes-Maria Staud, Thomas Larcher and Tristan Murail. Conducted by the composer, he recorded Peter Eötvös’ Cello Concerto to mark his 70th birthday in November 2014.

Jean-Guihen Queyras was a founding member of the Arcanto Quartet and forms a celebrated trio with Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov; the latter is, alongside Alexandre Tharaud, a regular accompanist. He has also collaborated with zarb specialists Bijan and Keyvan Chemirani on a Mediterranean programme.

The versatility in his music-making has led to many concert halls, festivals and orchestras inviting Jean-Guihen to be Artist in Residence, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Vredenburg Utrecht, De Bijloke Ghent and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

Jean-Guihen Queyras often appears with renowned orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, working with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, Yannick NézetSéguin, François-Xavier Roth, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Roger Norrington.

Jean-Guihen Queyras’ discography is impressive. His recordings of cello concertos by Edward Elgar, Antonín Dvořák, Philippe Schoeller and Gilbert Amy have been released to critical acclaim. As part of a harmonia mundi project dedicated to Schumann, he has recorded the complete piano trios with Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov and at the same time the Schumann cello concerto with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado. The recording “THRACE - Sunday Morning Sessions“ explores, in collaboration with the Chemirani brothers and Sokratis Sinopoulos, the intersections of contemporary music, improvisation and Mediterranean traditions. The 2022 / 23 season includes CD releases for the recording of works by composer Marin Marais with Alexandre Tharaud, as well as a release of the first recording by the “Invisible Stream” ensemble consisting of Jean-Guihen Queyras, Raphaël Imbert, Pierre-François Blanchard and Sonny Troupé. Jean-Guihen Queyras records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi.

Highlights in the 2022 / 23 season include concerts with his ensembles “Invisible

Stream” and “Thrace”, concert tours to Australia, Japan and Canada, invitations from the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the Residentie Orkest Den Haag, the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, as well as chamber music concerts with Alexander Melnikov, Jörg Widmann, the Belcea Quartet, the Quatuor Modigliani and Isabelle Faust. Alongside Yuja Wang, Jean-Guihen Queyras has been selected as Spotlight Artist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the upcoming season and will also be Resident Artist at the Cello Biennale Amsterdam.

Jean-Guihen Queyras holds a professorship at the University of Music Freiburg and is Artistic Director of the “Rencontres Musicales de HauteProvence” festival in Forcalquier. He plays a 1696 instrument by Gioffredo Cappa, made available to him by the Mécénat Musical Société Générale.

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In 1986, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialise in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.

And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Residencies at the Southbank Centre and the Glyndebourne Festival didn’t numb its experimentalist bent. A major record deal didn’t iron out its quirks. Instead, the OAE examined musical notes with ever more freedom and resolve.

That creative thirst remains unquenched. The Night Shift series of informal performances are redefining concert formats. Its former home at London’s Kings Place has fostered further diversity of planning and music-making. The ensemble has formed the bedrock for some of Glyndebourne’s most groundbreaking recent productions.

In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School, Camden. The residency – a first for a British orchestra – allows the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.

Now more than thirty years old, the OAE is part of our musical furniture. It has even graced the outstanding conducting talents of John Butt, Elder, Adam Fischer, Iván Fischer, Jurowski, Rattle and Schiff with a joint title of Principal Artist. But don’t ever think the ensemble has lost sight of its founding vow. Not all orchestras are the same. And there’s nothing quite like this one.

Andrew Mellor