Kati Debretzeni
Born in Transylvania, Kati studied the violin with Ora Shiran in Israel, and the Baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh and Walter Reiter at the Royal College of Music in London.

Since the year 2000 she has led the English Baroque Soloists under the direction of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and her playing can be heard on their recordings of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage (SDG). In 2008 she was appointed as one of the leaders of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with whom she has often appeared as soloist, directing and leading the orchestra in performances in the UK, Europe and the US.

Kati has recorded numerous chamber music CDs with the ensembles Florilegium (Chanel Classics), Ricordo (Linn Records) and most recently Trio Goya (Chandos). Additionally, she features as soloist on two versions of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, one with the European Brandenburg Ensemble under Trevor Pinnock (Avie Records—Gramophone Award 2008), and the other with the English Baroque Soloists (SDG).

Over the last few years, Kati has been invited to direct various ensembles in Israel, Canada, Norway, Poland, Iceland and the UK. She currently teaches the Baroque and Classical violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague.

The English Baroque Soloists (EBS)
have long been established as one of the world’s leading period instrument orchestras. Throughout their repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart and Haydn, they are equally at home in chamber, symphonic and operatic performances and the distinctive sound of their warm and incisive playing is instantly recognisable. The ensemble has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Sydney Opera House.

The EBS are regularly involved in joint projects with the Monteverdi Choir, with whom they took part in the iconic Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, performing all of Bach’s sacred cantatas throughout Europe. The ensemble has also participated in major opera productions alongside the Choir, in works by Handel, Purcell and Monteverdi, and recorded Mozart’s greatest operas for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1990s. More recently they toured Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice to Hamburg and Versailles, following a staged production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in collaboration with the Hofesh Shechter dance company.

2017 saw the EBS take part in the celebrated Monteverdi 450 tour, in which they performed all three of Monteverdi’s surviving operas across Europe and in the USA, a project that was recognised by a Royal Philharmonic Society award in the Opera and Music Theatre category.

In 2018, the EBS performed in Salzburg’s annual Mozartwoche, before embarking on a reprise of their landmark Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir in some of Europe’s most famous concert halls and churches, culminating in a residency at London’s Barbican Hall.

So far in 2019, the EBS has made its inaugural visit to South America for the Cartagena Festival, and performed Handel’s dramatic oratorio Semele in some of Europe’s most iconic venues; the Philharmonie in Paris; Barcelona’s Palau de la Música; the Alexandra Palace Theatre in London; Milan’s Teatro alla Scala; and Sala Santa Cecilia in Rome. Later in the year, the EBS will make its debut in Russia and will then return to South America alongside the Monteverdi Choir with a programme of sacred music featuring works by Carissimi, Monteverdi, Purcell and Scarlatti.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner
is revered as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation and standing as a leader in contemporary musical life. His work, as founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir (MC), English Baroque Soloists (EBS) and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR), has marked him out as a key figure both in the early music revival and as a pioneer of historically informed performances.

As a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Gardiner conducts repertoire from the 17th to the 20th centuries. He was awarded the Concertgebouw Prize in January 2016.

The extent of Gardiner’s repertoire is illustrated in the extensive catalogue of award-winning recordings with his own ensembles and leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic on major labels (including Decca, Philips, Erato and 30 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon), as wide-ranging as Mozart, Schumann, Berlioz, Elgar and Kurt Weill, in addition to works by Renaissance and Baroque composers. His many recording accolades include two GRAMMY awards and he has received more Gramophone Awards than any other living artist.

Gardiner has also conducted opera productions; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, at the Vienna State Opera and at Teatro alla Scala, Milan. From 1983 to 1988 he was artistic director of Opéra de Lyon, where he founded its new orchestra.

In 2017, Gardiner and the Monteverdi ensembles celebrated the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth with staged performances of his three surviving operas across Europe and in the USA, a project that was recognised by the RPS Music Award in the Opera and Music Theatre category.

2018 saw Gardiner - along with the Monteverdi Choir and EBS - embark on a reprise of the landmark Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in some of Europe’s most famous concert halls and churches, before giving a number of critically-acclaimed performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the Monteverdi Choir and ORR - including a landmark concert at Westminster Cathedral in aid of Cancer Research UK. Gardiner went on to demonstrate a renewed commitment to Berlioz’s music with an extensive tour of his major symphonic works (including Harold in Italy, Lélio and Symphonie Fantastique) across Europe and the United States.

An authority on the music of J. S. Bach, Gardiner’s book, Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award (Singer-Polignac). Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Sir John Eliot Gardiner holds several honorary doctorates. He was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.