Freiburger Barockorchester

Founded in 1987 by graduates of the Freiburg University of Music in Freiburg im Breisgau, the Freiburger Barockorchester (FBO) is devoted to a broad repertoire ranging from the 17th century to the present day. Passion, authenticity, and a joy in music making form its guiding artistic principles. With around 100 concerts each year, the ensemble performs at many of the world’s leading venues: from Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Vienna’s Musikverein to New York’s Lincoln Center, and from the Salzburg Festival to the Rheingau Music Festival. The orchestra also presents its own concert series in Freiburg, Stuttgart, and Berlin. It is led by its concertmasters Cecilia Bernardini and Gottfried von der Goltz. For larger projects, the ensemble collaborates with internationally renowned artists such as the pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout as Principal Guest Director; the conductors Pablo Heras-Casado, René Jacobs, and Sir Simon Rattle; and the violinist Isabelle Faust. More than 130 CD recordings, many of them award-winning, document its work. The Freiburger Barockorchester also regularly turns to music theater. In the 2025-26 season, it presented Handel’s Tamerlano at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival under the direction of René Jacobs. It also toured Europe with Jacobs, performing Vivaldi’s Il Giustino. With the cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, the FBO performed concerts featuring works from the Viennese Classical period, and, with the Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, it interpreted wedding cantatas from the widely extended Bach family.

Lucerne Festival (IMF) debut on 19 March 1997 performing d’Astorga’s Stabat mater and Lotti’s Requiem under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock.

March 2026