The Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music

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...

is an annual music festival held 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...

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History

The London-based Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music was founded in 1984 by the conductor Ivor Bolton

Ivor Bolton

Ivor Bolton is an English conductor and harpsichordist. He studied at Clare College and at the Royal College of Music...

 and musicologist Tess Knighton, who was also its Artistic Director until 1997. Kate Bolton was Artistic Director from 1997 to 2007. The current Artistic Director is Lindsay Kemp.

The Festival's first concerts took place at St James's Church, Piccadilly

St James's Church, Piccadilly

St James’s Church, Piccadilly is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, UK. It was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren....

. Concerts are now primarily held at the church of St John's, Smith Square. Concerts also take place at Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

. Other venues in the Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

 area have included St Margaret's Church

St. Margaret's, Westminster

The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London...

, St Peter's Eaton Square, and Westminster School

Westminster School

The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...

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Artists and Repertoire

The Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music presents concerts of music from the Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 period, performed on period instruments. Sponsored by Lufthansa German Airlines in association with Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce plc

Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...

 plc, it specialises in inviting non-UK performers, often making their UK debut, as well as UK musicians.

Ensembles who have appeared include Musica Antiqua Köln

Musica Antiqua Köln

Musica Antiqua Köln was an early music group that was founded in 1973 by Reinhard Goebel and fellow students from the Conservatory of Music in Cologne. Musica Antiqua Köln devoted itself largely to the performance of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries...

, Collegium Vocale Gent, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin is a German chamber orchestra founded in East Berlin in 1982...

, the Bach Ensemble, Tafelmusik

Tafelmusik

The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra is a Canadian baroque orchestra specializing in early music. They often perform with choir and play on period instruments....

, Europa Galante

Europa Galante

Europa Galante is an Italian period instrument Baroque orchestra founded by violinist Fabio Biondi in 1990 and directed by him since that time....

, The English Concert

The English Concert

The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket...

 and the Gabrieli Consort & Players, while soloists have included Emma Kirkby

Emma Kirkby

Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, DBE is an English soprano singer and one of the world's most renowned early music specialists. She attended Sherborne School For Girls in Dorset and was a classics student at Somerville College, Oxford, and an English teacher before developing a career as a soloist...

, Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl

Andreas Scholl is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range. He is noted as a specialist in Baroque music.-Childhood:...

, Magdalena Kožená

Magdalena Kožená

Magdalena Kožená is a Czech mezzo-soprano.In 2003, Kožená was awarded the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government...

, Anna Caterina Antonacci

Anna Caterina Antonacci

Anna Caterina Antonacci is an Italian soprano, known for her roles in the bel canto and Baroque repertoire.Born in Ferrara, Antonacci studied in Bologna, and made her debut as Rosina in 1986 at Arezzo. She spans the soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoire...

, Andrew Manze

Andrew Manze

Andrew Manze is an English violinist and conductor.As a guest conductor Manze has regular relationships with a number of leading international orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra,...

, Trevor Pinnock

Trevor Pinnock

Trevor David Pinnock CBE is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical...

 and Paolo Pandolfo

Paolo Pandolfo

Paolo Pandolfo is an Italian virtuoso player, composer, and teacher of music for the viola da gamba.He began his studies as a double bass and guitar player, becoming a skilled performer of jazz and popular music. In the mid-late 1970s he studied viola da gamba at the Rome Conservatory...

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The Festival is usually based around a theme, for example in 2010 the theme is 'Fountain of the Baroque: Italian Pioneers from Monteverdi to Vivaldi'.