About the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
In 1986, a group of inquisitive London musicians took a long hard look at that curious institution we call the Orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. They began by throwing out the rulebook. Put a single conductor in charge? No way. Specialize in repertoire of a particular era? Too restricting. Perfect a work and then move on? Too lazy. The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was born.
And as this distinctive ensemble playing on period-specific instruments began to get a foothold, it made a promise to itself. It vowed to keep questioning, adapting and inventing as long as it lived. Residencies at the Southbank Centre and the Glyndebourne Festival didn’t numb its experimentalist bent. Record deals didn’t iron out its quirks. Instead, the OAE examined musical notes with ever more freedom and resolve.
That creative thirst remains unquenched. The Night Shift series of informal performances taking place in pubs and bars redefines concert formats. Its association with another London venue, Kings Place, has fostered further diversity of music-making including the innovative series Bach, the Universe and Everything.
The OAE continues to tour around the UK — appearing in the major cities and concert halls as well as towns that most orchestras don’t check in to — and internationally. In 2023-24 the OAE performs at Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Paris Theatre du Chatelet, Bregenz, Prague, Köln, Prague, Brussels and Linz.
The OAE has never had a music director. It enjoys many long term collaborations and the title of Principal Artist is currently held by John Butt, Sir Mark Elder, Adam Fischer, Iván Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Simon Rattle and Sir András Schiff.
In keeping with its values of always questioning, challenging and trailblazing, in September 2020, the OAE became the resident orchestra of Acland Burghley School in Camden (London). The residency — a first for a British orchestra — allows the OAE to live, work and play amongst the students of the school.
About Julia Bullock, soprano
American classical singer Julia Bullock has headlined opera productions worldwide, including Theodora at Covent Garden and The Indian Queen at the English National Opera, Bolshoi Theatre and Teatro Real. She created leading roles in the premiere productions of Michael van der Aa’s Upload, John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones. She starred in The Rake’s Progress, Doctor Atomic and The Magic Flute, which she performed in concert with the LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, and in a production by the late Peter Brook on tour in South America. Bullock has collaborated with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Bayerische Rundfunk, NHK Symphony, Philharmonia and London Symphony Orchestra, and has given extensive recital tours at venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw and Elbphilharmonie.