Frans Brüggen and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Once the world's most famous recorder player, today Frans Brüggen is considered among the foremost experts in the performance of eighteenth century music. He was born in Amsterdam and studied musicology at the university there. At 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and later held position as Erasmus Professor at the Harvard University and Regents Professor at the University of Berkeley. Yet, as Luciano Berio wrote, he is "a musician who is not an archeologist but a great artist".
In 1981, Brüggen and friends founded the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, which consists of some fifty-five members from more than twenty different countries. Five times a year the orchestra assembles to go on tour. The musicians, who are all specialists in eighteenth and early nineteenth century music, play on period instruments, or on contemporary copies. The wide-ranging repertoire this orchestra has recorded for Philips Classics and nowadays for The Grand Tour / Glossa includes works by Purcell, Bach, Rameau, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Chopin.
For list of orchestra members see below
Violin
Rémy Baudet
Marc Destrubé
Staas Swierstra
Hans Christian Euler
Lorna Glover
Kees Koelmans
Anthony Martin
Guya Martinini
Franc Polman
Irmgard Schaller
Marinette Troost
Annelies van der Vegt
Dirk Vermeulen
Natsumi Wakamatsu
Richard Walz
Sayuri Yamagata
Gustavo Zarba
Viola
Emilio Moreno
Marten Boeken
Antonio Clares
Deirdre Dowling
Esther van der Eijk
Else Krieg
Yoshiko Morita
Cello
Richte van der Meer
Emmanuel Balsa
Julie Borsodi
Albert Brüggen
Lidewij Scheifes
Rainer Zipperling
Bass
Margaret Urquhart
Robert Franenberg
Christian Staude
Flute
Michael Schmidt-Casdorff
Ricardo Kanji
Takashi Ogawa, piccolo
Oboe
Frank de Bruine
Alayne Leslie
Clarinet
Eric Hoeprich
Guy van Waas
Oscar Arguelles
Bassoon
Danny Bond
Donna Agrell
Horn
Teunis van der Zwart
Stefan Blonk
Gijs Laceulle
Trumpet
David Staff
Jonathan Impett
Geoff Harniess
Graham Nicholson
Trombone
Sue Addisson
Peter Thorley
Stephen Saunders
Peter Harvey
Timpani
Maarten van der Valk
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