April 2017
Photo: TS-foto
Concerto Copenhagen played its first concert in 1991 and has since developed into Scandinavia’s
leading early music ensemble, joining the league of the world’s most exciting and innovative Baroque
orchestras. Original interpretations and a strong ability to communicate with the audience are among
Concerto Copenhagen’s hallmarks – making old music vital, relevant and contemporary.
»Nicholas Kenyon presented Bach’s B
Minor Mass in BBC Radio 3 on 11/2 –
Concerto Copenhagen’s recording was
chosen for ‘Building a Library’! This is
the second recording by Concerto Copenhagen that makes it into ‘Building
a Library’.«
Nicholas Kenyon, BBC Radio 3,
11/2 2017
In 1999 the internationally acclaimed harpsichordist and
chamber musician, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, became the ensemble’s chief artistic director, he was awarded the coveted Léonie Sonning Music Prize in 2007. The collaboration between
Concerto Copenhagen and Lars Ulrik Mortensen has led
to an exciting artistic and musical journey, appreciated and
praised by audiences and critics worldwide, and combining
a repertoire of well-known European music with less familiar
works of Scandinavian origin.
Over the years Concerto Copenhagen has collaborated with
many internationally renowned artists in the Early Music
scene, including Emma Kirkby, Andreas Scholl, Anne Sofie von Otter, Sonia Prina, Vivica Genaux,
Andrew Manze, Andrew Lawrence-King, Reinhard Goebel, Ronald Brautigam, Jordi Savall, and Al-
fredo Bernardini, the orchestra’s principal guest conductor. During the period 2015 – mid 2017 the
Danish composer Karl Aage Rasmussen is composer-in-residence with Concerto Copenhagen and
accompanies the orchestra on an adventurous expedition into the world of contemporary music. This
collaboration has already led to world premieres receiving high critical acclaim!
Concerto Copenhagen’s CD recordings for CPO, Deutsche Grammophon and BIS, as well as DVD productions for Harmonia Mundi and Decca have attracted worldwide attention and won several interna-
tional awards. This has led to invitations from many of Europe’s leading concert venues and festivals,
as well as extensive tours to the USA, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and China. International reviews
reflect the experience of a world orchestra at the highest level.
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Nederlands Kamerkoor and Concerto Copenhagen, Wiener Konzerthaus, January 2016
Photo: Bernhard Trebuch
Concerto Copenhagen’s media partner in Denmark is DR P2 Musik (National Classical Channel).
Most live concerts are recorded and broadcast in Denmark as well as via the EBU network in most
parts of the world, thereby reaching an average of 15 million radio audiences each transmission!
»The individual components are routinely marvellous, but Concerto Copenhagen produce something much more
than the sum of its parts: one of the
most profoundly captivating interpretations to have emerged recently.«
David Vickers, Gramophone,
March 2016
In Denmark, Concerto Copenhagen enjoys a close collaboration with The Royal Theatre with an average of one opera
per season. Recent productions include works by Purcell,
Monteverdi and Mozart as well as performances of a selection of Handel’s most beloved operas, featuring counter-
tenor Andreas Scholl as the lead role in both Julius Caesar
and Partenope.
The orchestra is supported by the Danish Arts Council and
is regarded as Denmark’s leading musical export within the
field of classical music.
Artistic director Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Lars Ulrik Mortensen (born 1955) studied at The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen (harpsichord with Karen Englund, figured bass with Jesper Bøje Christensen) and with Trevor Pinnock in
London. From 1988 to 1990 he was harpsichordist with London Baroque and until 1993 with Col-
legium Musicum 90 (leader: Simon Standage). He now works extensively as a soloist and chamber
musician in Europe, the United States, Mexico, South America, China, Japan and Australia.
Between 1996 and 1999 Lars Ulrik Mortensen was professor for harpsichord and performance prac-
tice at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and he now teaches at numerous Early Music courses
throughout the world, i.e. at the Mozarteum Salzburg and the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
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Besides being artistic director of Concerto Copenhagen
he succeeded Roy Goodman as musical director of the
European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO) in 2004. Additionally, Mortensen is increasingly working with sever-
al distinguished foreign ensembles like Holland Baroque,
Irish Baroque Orchestra, Nederlandse Bachvereniging
and Collegium 1704.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has recorded extensively for nu-
merous labels including DGG-Archive, EMI and Kontrapunkt, and his recording of Bach’s Goldberg
Variations was awarded the French “Diapason d’Or”.
Directing Concerto Copenhagen, Mortensen
»Director and harpsichordist Lars Ulrik Mortensen led
has recorded the complete solo harpsichord
performances of music by Telemann, Vivaldi and Han-
concertos by J.S. Bach for CPO. Recent releases
del with rhythmic vitality and colourful imagination.«
have included a CD with Bach Cantata arias
with Anne-Sophie von Otter on DG, as well as
Alexis Alrich, South China Morning Post,
symphonies and concertos by Danish compos-
18/3 2016
ers Kunzen, Gerson and Palschau on CPO.
In 2015 the same label released the recording
of the Bach concerti for 2, 3 and 4 harpsichords featuring Trevor Pinnock as co-soloist as well as a
recording of Bach’s B Minor Mass, which has received lavish praise in the international press.
Lars Ulrik Mortensen has received a number of
»With strong pulse and powerful dynamics CoCo’s
prizes and distinctions, among them the Dan-
artistic director, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, drove choir
ish Music Critics’ Award in 1984. In 2007 he
and orchestra to a stimulating performance, where
received Denmark’s most prestigious music
the audience could revel in euphony and musical
award, The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, and in
drama recreation through sorrow and joy, grass-
2008 he was made a member of the Royal Swed-
hoppers and infanticide. [...] Inscrutable art and
ish Academy of Music.
imperishable wealth is with Lars Ulrik Mortensen
that, which Concerto Copenhagen has at heart and
what they now for 25 years have managed to dust
off and show their audience. It is no small task, and
there is enough of plagues that can prevent it but as
long as there are enthusiasts like CoCo, we are all
much richer.«
Camilla Marie Dahlgreen,
Information, 22/1 2016
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Main sponsors:
»Concerto Copenhagen makes music with
Danish Arts Council, Augustinus Foundation,
perfection of the kind that can only come
The Obel Family Foundation, Oticon Founda-
from within. [...] Even the most steel
tion, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, A.
stranded symphony orchestra today plays
P. Møller Foundation
baroque music with the sound of Concerto
Media partner:
Copenhagen in mind. But exactly that
DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation)
victory has also made the fight for survival
more difficult [...] If the orchestra shall
rise after such a victory, it requires more
Contact:
money. Public or private authorities must
General manager:
give Concerto Copenhagen the opportunity
Nikolaj de Fine Licht | [email protected]
to continue the development.«
Sales, Dramaturg:
Lars Henriksson | [email protected]
6 out of 6 stars
Søren Schauser, Berlingske Tidende,
Concerto Copenhagen
17/1 2016
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