Founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA is recognized as one of the premier ensembles devoted to period instrument performance. The Orchestra has received wide critical acclaim for its concert and opera performances throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Japan. Since their United States debut in 2001 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Orchestra has performed in more cities in the U.S. than any other period instrument orchestra.

Committed to the rediscovery of first-rate 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces, the VBO has given the modern-day premieres of Francesco Cavalli’s L’Orione, Vivaldi’s Atenaide and Andromeda liberata, and Benedetto Marcello’s La morte d’Adone and Il trionfo della poesia e della musica. With Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Orchestra staged Handel’s Siroe in 2000, followed by equally successful stagings of Cimarosa’s L’Olimpiade in 2001 and Galuppi’s L’Olimpiade in 2006. The Orchestra reprised Siroe at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in its first full staging in the United States. In Spain in 2009, the VBO gave the modern-day premiere of Boccherini’s La Clementina.

In addition to this 27-city tour with violinist Robert McDuffie, highlights of the current season include a tour to Japan and Korea with violinist Giuliano Carmignola; concerts with soprano Patricia Petibon in Austria, France, Germany, and Turkey; a tour in Germany with cellist Gautier Capuçon, and concerts with mezzo-soprano Romina Basso in Italy and Poland. The VBO will perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater in Paris and Monteverdi’s Vespers in Leipzig. In recent seasons, the Orchestra has also performed with Cecilia Bartoli, Anna Netrebko, Sara Mingardo, and Andreas Scholl. A highlight of summer 2011 will be a festival tour in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Ko?zená singing arias of Vivaldi and Handel.

The VBO has an extensive discography with Sony and Deutsche Grammophon. Their world-premiere recording of Andromeda liberata for DG was followed by two recordings of violin concertos with Giuliano Carmignola; an album of Vivaldi sinfonias and concertos for strings; Vivaldi motets and arias with soprano Simone Kermes; two discs with Ko?zená: Handel arias and Vivaldi arias; and Vivaldi concertos for two violins with Viktoria Mullova and Giuliano Carmignola. Their newest album, of Italian arias with Patricia Petibon, was released August 2010. The Orchestra’s earlier discography on Sony includes The Four Seasons, two albums of previously unrecorded Vivaldi concertos, Locatelli violin concertos, and a collection of Bach arias featuring Angelika Kirchschlager. For its recordings, the Orchestra has been honored with the Diaspason D’Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the ECHO Award, and the Edison Award.

Their concerts have been filmed by the BBC and the NHK and broadcast by RadioFrance, France Musiques, ORF, RaiDue, BBC3, National Public Radio, RadioTre, and Arte. The Venice Baroque Orchestra is supported by the Fondazione Cassamarca in Treviso.

The Orchestra appears on this U.S. tour courtesy of Alliance Artist Management.