Dutch organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra will bring music from the Baroque period to audiences in Shanghai. Koopman has appeared in the world's most prestigious concert halls and played the most beautiful historical instruments of Europe.

At the age of 25, he created his first baroque orchestra; in 1979 he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, followed in 1992 by the Amsterdam Baroque Choir. They were combined as the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. The ensemble gained worldwide fame as one of the best ensembles on period instruments.

With a repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to the late Classics, they performed at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Théatre des Champs-Elysées and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Barbican and Royal Albert Hall in London, Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Philharmonie in Berlin, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, Suntory Hall in Tokyo as well as in Brussels, Milan, Madrid, Rome, Salzburg, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Munich, Athens, etc.

Among Koopman's most ambitious projects are the recording of the complete Bach cantatas, a massive undertaking for which he has been awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis "Echo Klassik," the BBC Award, the Hector Berlioz Prize and has been nominated for the Grammy Award and the Gramophone Award.

Secular and sacred

In addition to the works of Bach, Koopman has long been an advocate of the music of Bach's predecessor Dieterich Buxtehude. Following the completion of his Bach project, in 2005 Koopman embarked on the recording of the Buxtehude-Opera Omnia. The edition consists of 30 CDs, the latest released in 2014. Koopman is President of the "International Dieterich Buxtehude Society" and in 2012 was awarded the Buxtehude Prize by the City of Lübeck, the Bach-Prize of the City of Leipzig and in 2014 the Bach Prize of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Koopman has a very wide repertoire: as harpsichordist and organist he has performed music from the Renaissance to the Classical period, with the ABO&C he explored the Baroque and Classical period and as a conductor with modern orchestras he also approaches the early Romantics.

In recent years, Koopman has been very active as guest conductor. He has worked with the most prominent orchestras of the world, among them the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, DSO Berlin, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France Paris, Vienna Symphony, Boston Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra.

Koopman founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists who meet several times a year and work together to prepare and perform new exciting programs.

In 1994 Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra embarked upon the most ambitious recording project of the last decades: the integral recording of Bach's secular and sacred cantatas. For this extraordinary project Koopman and his ensemble received the Deutsche Schallplatten-Preis Echo Klassik. Three books have been edited and published by Ton Koopman and the musicologist Christoph Wolff and a series of six documentaries was produced and broadcasted by various TV stations.

Date & Time: July 8 & 9, 7:30 pm

Venue: Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall

Address: 523 Yan'an Road East

Prices: 280, 380, 480, 680, 980 yuan

Tel: 400-8918-182 (English available)

Tickets: http://en.damai.cn/event/tickets_103752/ (English)

http://www.gewara.com/drama/293718385 (Chinese) or visit Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall box office

Global Times

Poster for the concert

Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra will be coming to Shanghai for two concerts. Photos: Courtesy of Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai