Info
Director: Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Principal Guest Conductor: Andrew Lawrence-King
Guest Conductors: Alfredo Bernardini, Paul Hillier, Kenneth Weiss
Concerto Copenhagen
The orchestra performed it's first concerts in 1991 and has since developed into Scandinavia's leading period instruments ensemble and a young member of the World's most interesting and innovative Baroque Orchestras.
Concerto Copenhagen distinguishes itself by its original interpretations and a marked talent for communicating with the audience. Concerto Copenhagen recreates the vitality and presence of ancient music and brings it up to date.
In 1999, the internationally renowned Lars Ulrik Mortensen became artistic director of the ensemble. In recognition of his stature as one of the world's leading harpsichordists and chamber music players, he was awarded the coveted Léonie Sonning Prize in 2007. The encounter between Concerto Copenhagen and Mortensen was the prelude to an exciting artistic and musical journey, enabling the ensemble to combine a repertoire of well-known European music with less familiar works of Scandinavian and other origin.
Through the years Concerto Copenhagen has cooperated with many internationally renowned artists on the Early Music scene: Emma Kirkby, Andreas Scholl, Anne Sofie von Otter, Andrew Manze, Reinhard Goebel, Ronald Brautigam and Andrew Lawrence-King, who is the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor.
Concerto Copenhagen's CD recordings for the German label cpo, for Deutsche Grammophon and for BIS have attracted international attention and won several prestigious prizes. This in turn has opened the doors to many of Europe's leading concert venues, guest appearances at top international festivals and tours in Europe, the USA, Japan and Australia. Foreign critics have placed Concerto Copenhagen in the first rank of international orchestras.
In Denmark, the prime partner is the Royal Theatre, where Concerto Copenhagen performs in about one opera a year. Recent productions include works by Monteverdi and Mozart as well as Handel's Xerxes, Giulio Cesare and Partenope, the latter two featuring the counter tenor Andreas Scholl in leading roles.
Concerto Copenhagen's concerts are recorded and broadcast by Danmarks Radio (DR) and by the EBU network in most parts of the world.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Lars Ulrik Mortensen (born 1955) studied at The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen (harpsichord with Karen Englund, figured bass with Jesper Bøje Christensen) and with Trevor Pinnock in London. From 1988 to 1990 he was harpsichordist with "London Baroque" and until 1993 with "Collegium Musicum 90" (leader: Simon Standage). He now works extensively as a soloist and chamber-musician in Europe, the United States, Mexico, South America, Japan and Australia, performing regularly with distinguished colleagues like Emma Kirkby, John Holloway and Jaap ter Linden.
Between 1996 and 1999 Lars Ulrik Mortensen was professor for harpsichord and performance practice at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and he now teaches at numerous Early Music-courses throughout the world. Until recently, Lars Ulrik Mortensen was also active as a conductor for "modern" orchestras in Sweden and Denmark, where especially his activities at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen - a.o. Kunzen's "Holger Danske" in 2000 and Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" in 2003 - met with great critical acclaim. Since 2003, however, he has decided to work exclusively with period instrument ensembles. Since 1999, he has been artistic director of the Danish Baroque orchestra Concerto Copenhagen, and in 2004 he succeeded Roy Goodman as musical director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO). For the period 2008-09, his busy schedule with Concerto Copenhagen will include performances of Handel's "Partenope" at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen and at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as well as tours in Holland, Spain, Austria, Japan and the United States.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has recorded extensively for numerous labels including DGG-Archive, EMI and Kontrapunkt, and his recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations was awarded the French "Diapason d'Or". A series of Buxtehude-recordings from the 1990s for the Danish Dacapo-label has met with universal critical acclaim. The first complete recording of Buxtehude's chamber music with John Holloway and Jaap ter Linden received the Danish "Grammy"-award for best classical recording of the year, another "Grammy" was awarded a CD with Buxtehude's cantatas with Emma Kirkby, and Lars Ulrik Mortensen became "Danish Musician of the Year 2000" for his three CD's with harpsichord music by Buxtehude. These recordings also received the Cannes Classical Award 2001. Furthermore, a series of recordings with John Holloway, Aloysia Assenbaum and Jaap ter Linden of violin-sonatas by Schmelzer, Biber, Veracini and Leclair were released on the prestigious ECM-label. Directing Concerto Copenhagen, Mortensen has recorded the complete harpsichord concertos by J.S.Bach for CPO, which has received lavish praise in the international press, and 2004 also saw the release of recordings of Haydn piano concertos (with soloist Ronald Brautigam) on BIS as well as symphonies by the Danish composers J.E.Hartmann, Kunzen and Gerson on CPO.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has received a number of prizes and distinctions, among them the Danish Music Critics' Award in 1984, and in 2007 he received Denmark's most prestigious music award, The Léonie Sonning Music Prize. In 2008 he was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Andrew Lawrence-King
Baroque-harp virtuoso and imaginative continuo-player, Andrew Lawrence-King is one of the world's leading performers of early music. A creative and inspiring conductor who directs from one of several continuo instruments (including harp, organ, harpsichord & psaltery), he has led baroque operas and oratorios at La Scala, Milan; Sydney Opera House; Casals Hall, Tokyo; Berlin Philharmonie; Vienna Konzerthaus; New York's Carnegie Hall; and Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes.
His musical career began as Head Chorister at the Cathedral and Parish Church of St Peter Port Guernsey, whence he won an Organ Scholarship to Cambridge, completing his studies at the London Early Music Centre. He rapidly established himself as a versatile continuo-player with Europe's foremost specialist ensembles and in 1988 founded and co-directed the continuo-group Tragicomedia. He joined Jordi Savall's Hesperion XX as harp soloist, and was appointed Professor of Harp and Continuo at the Akademie für Alte Musik, Bremen, and the Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona.
In 1994 Andrew Lawrence-King formed his own ensemble, The Harp Consort, and was immediately signed up by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi for a seven-year series of solo and ensemble recordings.
The Harp Consort now records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA. Their chart-topping first release was Missa Mexicana: festive polyphony and popular dances from 17th-century Mexico [LondonTimes CD of the Year]. Their second CD, Miracles (songs by Gautier de Coincy, 13th -century Prior of Vic) won the Dutch 'Edison' award and was also Gramophone Magazine's Editor's Choice & London Telegraph CD of the Year. Their latest release is El Arte de Fantasía: dances, tientos & chansons from the Spanish Golden Age.
Andrew Lawrence-King conducted a staged production of Peri's Euridice at the Los Angeles Getty Centre for the 400th anniversary of the earliest opera, and has directed Handel's Almira for the Helsinki Stadia. His work on 17th-century dances with Steven Player & The Harp Consort has won the ensemble an unparalleled reputation for stylish and entertaining stage-shows, and his duo album with Paul Hillier was chosen by Elvis Costello as record of the year in Rolling Stone magazine. He has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Sheffield University for his achievements in Baroque opera.
Andrew Lawrence-King now divides his time between solo recitals, tours with The Harp Consort, and appearances as guest director for orchestras, choirs and baroque operas in Europe, Scandinavia and the Americas, interspersed with worldwide performances of Luz y norte and Missa Mexicana. He is Principal Guest Director of Concerto Copenhagen (Scandinavia's leading baroque orchestra), the Florentine ensemble, L'Homme Armé (specialising in baroque opera and oratorio) and the new Portuguese ensemble, La Portingaloise. He teaches at the Sibelius Academy & Helsinki Stadia (Finland) and has been awarded a three-year Research Fellowship by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council to research Spanish Baroque music-drama. His first solo recital for Harmonia Mundi USA is Chorégraphie: Music for Louis XIV's Dancing Masters.