Hyperion Records

Formed in 1988 by the Early Music Network of Great Britain, The Orlando Consort rapidly achieved a reputation as one of Europe’s most expert and consistently challenging groups performing repertoire from the years 1050 to 1550. Their work successfully combines captivating entertainment and fresh scholarly insight; the unique imagination and originality of their programming together with their superb vocal skills have marked the Consort out as the outstanding leader of their field.

The Orlando Consort has performed at many of Britain’s top festivals (including the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival) and has in recent years made visits to France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the USA and Canada, South America, Singapore, Japan, Greece, Russia, Austria, Slovenia, Portugal and Spain. The Consort’s impressive discography includes a collection of music by John Dunstaple and ‘The Call of the Phoenix’, which were selected as Early Music CDs of the Year by Gramophone in 1996 and 2003 respectively; their CDs of music by Compère, Machaut, Ockeghem, Josquin, ‘Popes and Anti-Popes’, ‘Saracen and Dove’ and ‘Passion’ have also all been short-listed. Their 2008 release of Machaut’s ‘Messe de Notre Dame’ and ‘Scattered Rhymes’, an outstanding new work by the young British composer Tarik O’Regan and featuring the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, was short-listed for a BBC Music Magazine Award.

The Consort’s performances also embrace the spheres of contemporary music and improvisation: to date they have performed over thirty premieres and they have created striking collaborations with the Calefax Reed Quintet and the jazz group Perfect Houseplants. In partnership with the Radcliffe Trust, the Consort currently holds residencies at Nottingham, Bangor and Durham universities. Recent concert highlights include the Consort’s debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall and performances of the ‘Mantra’ project exploring historic Portuguese and Goan music with the brilliant tabla player Kuljit Bhamra in Europe and Asia.