In September, the COE family welcomed two new members: Principal Horn Benoit de Barsony who shares the position at 50% with Jasper de Waal and Leader/Director Maria Włoszczowska who shares the position at 50% with Lorenza Borrani!
Latest news
New release: Brahms Symphonies (COE, Yannick Nézet-Séguin)
Our Brahms Symphonies with Yannick Nézet-Séguin were released on Friday 12th July to international acclaim.
We could not be more happy to announce that Sir Simon Rattle will join the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as an Honorary Member!
Schubert’s ‘Great ‘ C Major Symphony with Harnoncourt is Top Choice on Record Review!
Our recording of Schubert’s 9th Symphony with Nikolaus Harnoncourt was featured on BBC Radio 3’s record review…
Release of Berglund box-set by Warner Classics (January 2024)
In January, Warner Music released a compilation of all its recordings with the Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund. The set features the COE’s Sibelius Symphonies released between 1997 and 2000.
Schumann Piano Concertos: Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Beatrice Rana
On 3rd February 2023, Warner Classics released our recording of Piano Concertos by Clara Wieck-Schumann and Robert Schumann with pianist Beatrice Rana and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The performances were recorded last summer in Baden-Baden and broadcast online on a number of platforms including Medici and Arte.
At the end of February 2020 the COE musicians travelled back home after a memorable COE tour to Belgium and Italy with Matthias Pintscher and pianist Emanuel Ax. Little did we know that we would not meet again until a very short stint with Sir Simon Rattle and Vilde Frang in Berlin in October, after which we would be silenced again until July 2021. During these unsettling and trying times, the COE embarked on a number of initiatives, working on the release of archive recordings with the late Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Paavo Berglund, two very dear friends of the Orchestra, as well as the release of all of the Beethoven Symphonies with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. At the end of 2022, we look back at how these recordings have performed.
Latest release: Beethoven cycle with Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Following on from our performances and live recording in July 2021 in Baden Baden Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe present Beethoven’s nine symphonies in what is the very first recorded cycle to be based on the recently concluded New Complete Edition of the composer’s works. Yannick has said “I’m interested in how Beethoven’s music can surprise us today. Our interpretation should make the audience feel as if they were hearing this music for the first time. That is my goal.” The set was released by Deutsche Grammophon on 15 July 2022 as a 5‑CD edition, Beethoven: The Symphonies is also available digitally in standard stereo and in the immersive Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio formats. Hailed by the international critic, the set was Album of the Week on Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
The Members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe would like to express their strong support to the people of Ukraine through their universal language of music and will be playing the Ukrainian National Anthem or appropriate Ukrainian music at their forthcoming concerts whenever possible.
New DVD/BluRay: Sibelius Symphonies
28th January 2022 marks the international release on DVD/BluRay of our full Sibelius symphony cycle performed by the COE and Paavo Berglund at the Helsinki Festival in 1998. This release is a tribute to one of the COE’s most special friends, Paavo, who sadly passed away 10 years ago.