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English Chamber Orchestra

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The English Chamber Orchestra, ECO for short, is a British chamber orchestra from London. As a full orchestra it regularly plays at Cadogan Hall, and as a smaller ensemble at Wigmore Hall. Its origins lie in the Goldsbrough Orchestra, which was founded in 1948 by Lawrence Leonard and Arnold Goldsbrough. In 1960 the name changed to English Chamber Orchestra, because the old name would have stood in the way of success outside England.

Music and breakthrough

Shortly afterwards the orchestra became closely associated with the Aldeburgh Festival, where it took part in the first performances of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1960, Owen Wingrave in 1970 and Curlew River. For a long time it had no permanent principal conductor and worked with guest conductors such as Raymond Leppard, Colin Davis and Daniel Barenboim. In 1985 Jeffrey Tate became the first principal conductor. Ralf Gothóni and Paul Watkins, among others, followed later, and a new appointment was made in 2023. Its albums range from Dido and Aeneas (1961) and The Indian Queen (1966) to Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1967) and Handel's Wassermusik (1971). King Charles III has been its patron since 1977.

Influence

The ECO plays as a small, nimble orchestra on modern instruments, and has made many recordings of Baroque, Classical and twentieth-century English music. In this way the orchestra became a fixture of the British record industry from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra in the recording by the English Chamber Orchestra and notice how each instrument plays the theme on its own. Can you hear how the families of strings, woodwind and percussion make themselves heard one after another?

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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