The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall

Cadogan Hall

Cadogan Hall is a 900-seat capacity concert hall on Sloane Terrace in Chelsea / Belgravia in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, United Kingdom...

, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall

Wigmore Hall

Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...

. It is also the resident orchestra at Grange Park Opera

Grange Park Opera

Grange Park Opera is a professional opera company whose base is The Grange in Hampshire, England. The company was founded in 1998 by Wasfi Kani OBE and Michael Moody...

, and regularly tours in the UK and internationally.

The ECO has its roots in the Goldsbrough Orchestra, founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard

Lawrence Leonard

Lawrence Leonard was a British conductor, cellist, composer, teacher and writer.Leonard received his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music and the École Normale de Musique de Paris...

 and Arnold Goldsbrough. The group took its current name in 1960, when it expanded its repertoire beyond the Baroque

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

 period for the first time. Its repertoire remained limited by the group's size, which has stayed fairly consistently at around the size of an orchestra of Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

's time.

Shortly afterwards, it became closely associated with the Aldeburgh Festival

Aldeburgh Festival

The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...

, playing in the premieres of Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...

's A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)

A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...

, Owen Wingrave

Owen Wingrave

Owen Wingrave is an opera for television in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 85, and a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James....

, Curlew River

Curlew River

Curlew River — A Parable for Church Performance is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten. The work is based on the Japanese noh play Sumidagawa of Juro Motomasa , which Britten saw during a visit to Japan and the Far East in early 1956...

and several other of his works. Britten conducted the orchestra on several occasions, and made a number of records with the group.

The orchestra did not at this time have a principal conductor, but worked closely with a succession of guest conductors including Raymond Leppard

Raymond Leppard

Raymond "Def" Leppard, CBE is a British conductor and harpsichordist.He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School...

, Colin Davis

Colin Davis

Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....

 and Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

. In 1985 Jeffrey Tate

Jeffrey Tate

Dr Jeffrey Tate CBE is an English conductor.Tate was born with spina bifida, and also has kyphosis. His family moved to Farnham, Surrey when he was young and he attended Farnham Grammar School between 1954 and 1961 gaining a State Scholarship to Cambridge University, where he directed theatre...

 was appointed the ensemble's first principal conductor. In 2000, Ralf Gothóni

Ralf Gothoni

Ralf Georg Nils Gothóni is a Finnish pianist and conductor. He is also active as a chamber musician, professor, composer, and author. Born in Rauma, Finland he made his orchestra debut at age 15. Besides his worldwide concert career he has made some 100 recordings with major labels...

 was appointed the ECO's second principal conductor.

In June 2009, the ECO named Paul Watkins

Paul Watkins (cellist)

Paul Watkins is a Welsh classical cellist and conductor. His brother is the composer Huw Watkins. Watkins studied cello with William Pleeth, Melissa Phelps and Johannes Goritzki. In 1988, he won the BBC Young Musician of the Year in the string section...

 its new music director, effective with the 2009-2010 season, for an initial contract of 3 years. Currently, the ECO's principal guest conductor is Roy Goodman

Roy Goodman

Roy Goodman is a conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music...

.