Violin I
Kati Debretzeni (leader)*
Rodolfo Richter
Iona Davies
Andrew Roberts
Daniel Edgar
Debbie Diamond

Violin II
Margaret Faultless
Claire Holden
Alice Evans
Henry Tong
Claudia Delago-Norz
Kinga Ujszaszi

Viola
Anne Sophie van Riel
Martin Kelly
Annette Isserlis
Kate Heller

Cello
Luise Buchberger*
Andrew Skidmore
Catherine Rimer

Double Bass
Christine Sticher
Cecelia Bruggemeyer

Flute
Lisa Beznosiuk
Neil McLaren

Oboes
Daniel Bates*
Leo Duarte

Bassoon
Jane Gower*
Sally Jackson

Horns
Richard Bayliss
Martin Lawrence
Nicholas Benz
David Bentley

Trumpets
David Blackadder
Phillip Bainbridge

Timpani
Adrian Bending

*Sinfonia Concertante soloists

The OAE was formed in 1986 by a group of musicians who took a good look at that curious institution we call the orchestra, and decided to start again from scratch. The Orchestra plays on instruments (or replicas) and use techniques from the time the music was written. This gets closer to the experience audiences would have had at the time the music was written. There are some quite radical differences between historic instruments and modern ones. The name refers to the common term for the explosion of science, philosophy and culture in Western Europe during the 1600s and 1700s, the Age of Enlightenment.
The OAE is an orchestra in residence at the Southbank Centre and Kings Place in London and Glyndebourne opera festival, and tours frequently around the UK and internationally. In 2020, the OAE became the very first orchestra in the UK to take up residence in a school through its embedded education partnership with Acland Burghley School in Camden.

Born in Budapest in 1953, Sir András Schiff began studying piano at the age of five with Elisabeth Vadász. He continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Pál Kadosa, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados, and with George Malcolm in London.
A key element of his career has been piano recitals, with a particular interest in cyclical programmes. He has focused on the works of composers such as Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartók.
After collaborating with the world's leading orchestras and conductors, he has focused on performing the piano concertos of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven under his own baton.
In 1999, he founded the Cappella Andrea Barca, a chamber orchestra composed of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends, with whom he works closely as conductor and soloist. He also collaborates regularly with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 1998, he has curated the “Omaggio a Palladio” festival at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.
In 2018, he became Associate Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, reflecting his growing interest in period keyboard instruments.
Sir András Schiff has been a passionate chamber musician since his youth. From 1989 to 1998, he directed the Musiktage Mondsee chamber music festival and, from 1995 to 2013, he co-directed the Ittinger Pfingstkonzerte at the Ittingen Charterhouse in Switzerland with Heinz Holliger.
Supporting young musicians is an important part of his work. He teaches piano and chamber music at the Kronberg Academy and the Barenboim-Said Academy, as well as giving frequent masterclasses. In 2014, he founded the “Building Bridges” mentoring programme, which offers targeted and long-term support to talented young pianists.
For 15 years, Sir András Schiff was an exclusive artist for the Decca label. On his 70th birthday, a 78-disc edition was released, bringing together all his recordings for Decca.
Since 1998, he has recorded exclusively for ECM. His live recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas at the Tonhalle in Zurich have received great acclaim. In 2012, he won the International Classical Music Award in the category “Solo Instrument Recording of the Year” with his album dedicated to Schumann's Geistervariationen. His most recent recordings include a 2020 album with clarinettist and composer Jörg Widmann (featuring Brahms' Clarinet Sonatas and Widmann's Piano Intermezzi), a 2021 recording of Brahms' Piano Concertos with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and a 2023 recording of key works by J.S. Bach on the clavichord.
In 2017, his book Music Comes from Silence was published, featuring essays and conversations with journalist Martin Meyer about his artistic vision, performance techniques, interpretative methods, and professional experiences. The book, translated into several languages, is being reprinted in 2024.
In 2011, Sir András Schiff publicly took a stand against alarming political developments in Hungary and, following attacks by some Hungarian nationalists, decided to no longer perform in his native country.
Sir András Schiff has received numerous international awards and honours. In 2006, he was made an honorary member of the Beethoven House in Bonn for his outstanding work as a Beethoven interpreter. He received the Robert Schumann Prize from the city of Zwickau, the Order Pour le Mérite for Science and Arts (2011) and the Cross of Merit with Star of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012). In 2022, he was awarded the Bach Medal in Leipzig as “one of the most important interpreters of Bach of our time”.
In 2008, he received the Wigmore Hall Medal in London for his 30 years of musical activity there. He was appointed Special Supernumerary Fellow of Balliol College (Oxford) in 2012 and received the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2013. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds (2014) and the Royal College of Music (2018). In 2014, he was appointed Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music. He has also received the Mozart Gold Medal (International Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg), been appointed an honorary member of the Wiener Konzerthaus and, in 2023, during his 66th appearance at the Salzburg Festival, received the Festival Pin for his historic contribution to the prestigious event.
In 2024, he received the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art and the Bösendorfer Ring, previously awarded to Wilhelm Backhaus and Paul Badura-Skoda.
In 2021, he was awarded the Antonín Dvořák Prize in Prague for his long-standing work promoting Czech composers around the world and for his numerous recordings.
Sir András Schiff has been an honorary citizen of the city of Vicenza since 2014 and an honorary member of the Accademia Olimpica di Vicenza since 2016, from which he received the Lauro Olimpico in 2023 for his outstanding contribution to the promotion of Vicenza's artistic and cultural heritage. In March 2024, he was awarded the “Una vita nella musica” prize by the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 2025, he received the Praemium Imperiale, the most important internationally renowned artistic award from the Japan Arts Association.