The Orchestra of the Classical Opera Company
The Orchestra of the Classical Opera Company is the company's own period-instrument orchestra, and plays for all our opera and concert performances under the direction of the company's artistic director Ian Page. It comprises some of the country's leading young musicians, and varies in size according to the repertoire being performed, from 12 (Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne) to 45 (Beethoven's 5th Symphony).
Members of the Orchestra of the Classical Opera Company play either on old, 'authentic' instruments or on modern reproductions of instruments that were being played in the second half of the 18th century. In this way we are able to explore the sound-world of the classical period, and to recreate as closely as we are able the way composers of the 18th and early 19th century would have expected their music to sound. In many cases this is quite different from the sound of the modern symphony orchestra, and enables the music of the classical period to really come alive.
Leader
Our leader, Lucy Russell, first worked with Ian Page when they were at York University together, and is also the leader of the renowned Fitzwilliam String Quartet.
Principal oboist
Our principal oboist, Anthony Robson, is one of the world's leading baroque and classical instrumentalists, and has performed and recorded with all the major British period-instrument orchestras.
Harpsichordist
Our harpsichordist, Steven Devine, also works regularly at the famous museum of historical keyboard instruments at Finchcock's in Sussex. He won first prize in the inaugural Broadwood Harpsichord Competition in 1993 and released his first solo CD in 2001.
". . . the orchestra gave the singers all the momentum they could have wished for. Their playing, punchy and dynamic from the first bar, made a be-suited and work-weary audience sit up and listen."
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