Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano joins the COE as an Honorary Member

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) is delighted to announce that conductor Sir Antonio Pappano, a long-standing friend of the Orchestra, has now joined the COE family as an Honorary Member, alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff and Robin Ticciati.

Antonio Pappano has been a regular artistic partner of the COE since 2016 and we always look forward to his inspiration and infectious enthusiasm that always take us on a wonderfully creative voyage every time we meet. All our projects together, across more than 30 European cities, have featured world-class soloists including oboist François Leleux, violinists Lisa Batiashvili, Janine Jansen and Veronika Eberle as well as pianists Beatrice Rana and Bertrand Chamayou. For him, one of the aspects that attracts him most to the COE is the mix between the older and younger generations and the ability of the Orchestra to build on its incredible heritage shaped among others by Claudio Abbado and Nikolaus Harnoncourt whilst also taking in more recent influences in its stride.

On becoming COE Honorary Member Tony said: “To be made an honorary member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, an ensemble I hold in the highest possible esteem, makes me so very happy and proud. That I will continue to collaborate in the future with these fabulous musicians is a rare gift. Thank you COE!”

Equally thrilled to welcome Tony into the Orchestra, the COE Players Committee said: “Tony’s energy, warmth and generosity of spirit bring a wonderful atmosphere to our rehearsals and performances. He challenges us with fresh repertoire and inspires lively, committed music-making. There’s always a sense of shared purpose and fun on stage, and we’re thrilled to welcome him into the COE family and continue our musical journey together.”

Peter Readman, Chairman of the COE said: “I’m delighted that Tony Pappano is joining the COE as an Honorary Member. After almost 10 years of giving concerts together, the members of the COE wanted to invite Tony to become a member of the COE family in recognition of their long-standing friendship and great pleasure in making music together.”

Biographies

Sir Antonio Pappano

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, Sir Antonio Pappano is renowned for his charismatic leadership and inspiring performances across both symphonic and operatic repertoires. He is Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Opera and Ballet Covent Garden and Music Director Emeritus of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, having held the position of Music Director at both institutions from 2002-2024 and 2005-2023 respectively. Nurtured as a pianist, repetiteur and assistant conductor at many of the most important opera houses of Europe and North America, including at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and several seasons at the Bayreuth Festival as musical assistant to Daniel Barenboim, Pappano was appointed Music Director of Oslo’s Den Norske Opera in 1990, and from 1992-2002 served as Music Director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. From 1997-1999 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Pappano is in demand as an opera conductor at the highest international level, including with the Metropolitan Opera New York, the State Operas of Vienna and Berlin, the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Teatro alla Scala, and has appeared as a guest conductor with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Bavarian Radio, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago and Boston Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras. He maintains a particularly strong relationship with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe of which he is Honorary Member.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season and beyond include return visits to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic, and guest appearances with the Swedish Radio Symphony and the Orchestra f the Royal Danish Opera, and he continues the acclaimed new Ring Cycle at the Royal Opera with a new production of Siegfried. In his second season as Chief Conductor of the London Symphony, Pappano takes the orchestra on wide-ranging tours to major European capitals and festivals, and a residency in Hanoi, Vietnam, as well as concerts at London’s Barbican Centre with concertante performances of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and symphonic repertoire from Bernstein, Britten and Copland, to Macmillan, Musgrave, Mahler, and further recordings of Vaughan Williams and Elgar for LSO Live.

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) was founded in 1981 by a group of young musicians who became acquainted as part of the European Community Youth Orchestra (now EUYO). There are now about 60 members of the COE, who pursue parallel careers as principals or section leaders of nationally-based orchestras, as eminent chamber musicians, and as tutors of music.

From the start, the COE’s identity was shaped by its partnerships with leading conductors and soloists. It was Claudio Abbado above all who served as an important mentor in the early years. He led the COE in staged works such as Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni and conducted numerous concerts featuring works by Schubert and Brahms in particular. Nikolaus Harnoncourt also had a major influence on the development of the COE through his performances and recordings of all of the Beethoven symphonies, as well as through opera productions at the Salzburg, Vienna, and Styriarte festivals. Past associations with Sándor Végh, Alexander Schneider, Paavo Berglund and Bernard Haitink are also important highlights in the life of the COE.

Currently the Orchestra works closely with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff and Robin Ticciati who are Honorary Members (following in the footsteps of Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt).

The COE has strong links with many of the major festivals and concert halls in Europe including the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie in Berlin, the Cologne, Luxembourg and Paris Philharmonies, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe has been “Residenzorchester Schloss Esterházy” in Eisenstadt since 2022. In partnership with the Kronberg Academy, the COE also became the first-ever Orchestra-in-residence at the Casals Forum in Kronberg in 2022.

With more than 250 works in its discography, the COE’s CDs have won numerous international prizes, including two Grammys and three Gramophone Record of the Year Awards. Our most recent releases include the recording of the Clara Wieck-Schumann and Robert Schumann’s Piano Concertos with Beatrice Rana and Yannick Nézet-Séguin in February 2023, to international acclaim. In July 2024, Deutsche Grammophon released our Brahms Symphonies, recorded at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus with Yannick Nézet-Séguin during 2022 and 2023.

In 2009, the COE Academy was created in order to give a select group of exceptional students the chance to study with the principal players of COE and, importantly, to give the students the opportunity to travel “on tour” with the orchestra.

The COE is a private orchestra which receives invaluable financial support from particularly the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and a further number of Friends including Dasha Shenkman, Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement, the Rupert Hughes Will Trust, the Underwood Trust, the 35th Anniversary Friends and American Friends.