The First Viennese School with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Andrew Manze and Jan Lisiecki

Music is greater than the individual, and the ensemble is greater than the sum of its parts: these ideas define the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE), which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2021. The COE was founded in 1981 by young musicians who had met in the European Community Youth Orchestra. Today, the core line-up includes some 60 hand-picked members, soloists and principals of renowned orchestras, acclaimed chamber musicians and professors. From the very beginning, the orchestra's profile has been shaped by partnerships with important conductors and soloists. In the ensemble’s early years, Claudio Abbado was a particularly important mentor. With him, the orchestra made award-winning recordings, including Gioacchino Rossini's opera Il viaggio a Reims and all of Franz Schubert's symphonies. Nikolaus Harnoncourt also made significant contributions by recording all of Beethoven's symphonies and opera productions at the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Festival and the Styriarte. Today the orchestra works closely with Sir András Schiff, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Bernard Haitink. Since the 2018/19 season, the CEO has performed regularly at the Philharmonie Berlin at the invitation of the Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation. A mainstay of the repertoire is the music of the Viennese Classical period, which can be heard in performances around the world with soloists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Janine Jansen, Renaud Capuçon and many others.

Andrew Manze's interpretations have an unmistakable mixture of profound source work and spontaneity, both linked to historical performance practice. After studying classical philology, he switched to the baroque violin and within a very short time advanced to become a leading exponent of early music - as concertmaster in the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and the Academy of Ancient Music, and as director of the English Concert. After a fulfilling solo career, Manze, who is also active as a lecturer, editor and author, set aside playing the violin to make a career as a conductor of modern symphony orchestras - with an approach that he calls "post-historically-informed practice": "Many of my performance decisions are based on corresponding historical evidence and practices, but applied to modern instruments." A Briton, he served for many years as principal conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, and also has a close association with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a frequent guest conductor with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the Los Angeles and London Philharmonic Orchestras, the NDR Elbphilharmonieorchester and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Jan Lisiecki's debut with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of nine marked the beginning of an impressive career. As a Mozart specialist, he went on to thrill audiences and the press with his refreshing ease and clarity. At the age of 14, he turned down a recording contract offer because the label would not let him play Mozart. A year later, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Born in Canada to Polish parents, Lisiecki has been acclaimed by both BBC Music Magazine and the New York Times as "perhaps the most 'complete' pianist of his age …”, “… who makes every note count." Most recently, he attracted attention for Chopin recordings for which he was heralded as "a young genius with flying fingers" (Der Spiegel). Jan Lisiecki gives over 100 concerts a year and works with conductors such as Sir Antonio Pappano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Daniel Harding. He performs in the world's great concert halls, in New York's Carnegie Hall, in the Philharmonie Berlin, at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris or the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Jan Lisiecki, who has won Canada's Juno Award and the Echo Klassik for his recordings, is the youngest-ever recipient of the Gramophone Young Artist Award and the Leonard Bernstein Award.