Brecon Baroque

Director: Rachel Podger

https://www.rachelpodger.com/brecon-baroque

“Magnificent Brecon Baroque are masters of an impressive palette” (Diapason D’Or). The dynamic ensemble Brecon Baroque consists of an international line-up of world-class virtuosi in the period-instrument world. Together they specialise in one-to-a-part repertoire including Vivaldi, Biber, and Bach which “releases a freedom and buoyancy in the playing” (Financial Times) and spotlights each member alongside group director Rachel Podger.

The new season includes touring of recent Gramophone Editor’s Choice album ‘Just Biber’ (1681 Biber Sonatas), The Muses Restor’d, and a stunning Trio Sonatas programme including works by Handel, Purcell, Geminiani and Leclair.

RICHARD JONES // ‘Chamber Airs in A minor 1735: Prelude-Allegro’ by Rachel Podger & Brecon Baroque from The Muses Restor’d

Recent highlights have included a residency at Kings Place as part of Rachel’s Artist in Focus year; tours of Vivaldi The Four Seasons to support its Vivaldi concerti box-set release on Channel Classics and the piece’s 300th anniversary; a Christmas tour with I Fagiolini of Angels and Demons; new Bach and Biber programmes including From Darkness to Light; and album releases and touring of Just Biber (Biber 1681 Sonatas) which received a 5* review in The Times “pairing her dynamic fiddling with equally colourful playing from members of Brecon Baroque … the most imaginative and inviting with a particular teasing charm and extra spurt of flair”; and The Muses Restor’d, a journey of captivating violin-led chamber music from Jacobean to Early Georgian England (Editor’s Choice Gramophone, Chamber Choice BBC Music Magazine, Diapason d’Or).

Variation 22 - Project commissioned and filmed by Brecon Baroque Festival, Brecon Cathedral, August 2020

The group has performed across the world including at the Wigmore Hall as part of Rachel Podger’s Artist in Residency, Edinburgh International Festival, and performances at its very own Brecon Baroque Festival. Rachel and Brecon Baroque’s debut CD, Bach Violin Concertos, attracted universal critical acclaim and was quickly hailed as a benchmark recording of these works. The complete recording of Vivaldi L’Estro Armonico concertos was Record of the Month for both the BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone Magazine, was awarded a Diapason d’Or, and won the 2016 BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award. In 2016, its disc of Biber Rosary Sonatas won the Baroque Instrumental Gramophone Award, followed by the release of Bach Art of Fugue and Grandissima Gravita in 2017. Vivaldi Le Quattro Stagioni was released in 2018 to superb international reviews and won many awards “this is something genuinely, effortlessly and naturally different … a Four Seasons to covet and keep” (Gramophone). Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined, arranged especially for Rachel and Brecon Baroque by Chad Kelly was released in 2023. Brecon Baroque is managed worldwide by Percius.

For further projects and for print, please download Brecon Baroque’s full biography.