Frans Brüggen
He is considered one of the greatest interpreters of 18th-century music. Born in Amsterdam, he studied musicology and, to only 21 years old, became a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague; later he was designated Erasmus Professor at Harvard University and Regents Professor at UC Berkeley. His conducting activity, sees him working steadily with some of the world's leading orchestras.A special relationship ties him to the Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment, he has been a guest conductor several times at the Salzburg Festival, and he has conducted, among others, the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Oslo, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Hamburg Philharmonics, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
In 1981 Frans Brüggen founded the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in Amsterdam. This consists from about 60 elements from from 22 different countries. The musicians, all of whom are specialists in the performance practice of the 18th and 19th centuries, play on original instruments or contemporary copies.Their numerous recordings for Philips and Glossa have won major international awards.