Dunedin Consort is a baroque music ensemble based in Edinburgh, Scotland.[1]
The group was founded in 1995 by Susan Hamilton and Ben Parry. In 2003, the group chose John Butt as its conductor. Butt shared the title of co-artistic director of the Dunedin Consort until August 2012, when his title was changed to music director.[2]
The group was named after Din Eidyn, the ancient Brittonic Celtic name of Edinburgh Castle. They perform on period instruments, with choruses often numbering just one to a part. The ensemble was awarded Gramophone Awards – for the 2007 recording of Handel’s Messiah and the 2014 recording of Mozart’s Requiem – and a Grammy nomination. In 2018 it was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in the Ensemble category.
At BBC Proms debut in 2017 the group gave a performance of Bach’s John Passion. In the same year, Dunedin Consort announced its first residency at London’s Wigmore Hall, along with its regular series of events in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth, Scotland. In Scotland, Dunedin Consort has appeared at the Edinburgh International, Lammermuir and East Neuk Festivals. Its discography on Linn Records includes Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, both nominated for Gramophone Awards. Other Bach recordings include Mass in B minor, Violin Concertos, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, Matthew Passion and John Passion, which was nominated for a Recording of the Year award in both Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine. In its Handel series, Dunedin Consort has recorded Messiah in its original Dublin version, Esther (Handel’s first oratorio in English), the Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, and Samson in its first version of 1743. In 2017 Dunedin Consort released its recording of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610.
The ensemble has also commissioned and premiered new works by composers including Sally Beamish, Harvey Brough, Corrina Hewat, Peter Nelson, William Sweeney, and Errollyn Wallen.
The consort has made 15 recordings on Linn Records. Other labels have included Delphian for …in Chains of Gold and The People’s Mass, Tob Records for Silhouettes and Crimson Productions for A Celtic Christmas.
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