European Union Baroque Orchestra To Perform Last Concert Before Moving to Belgium Because of Brexit

The European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), which is based in Oxfordshire since 1985, will give its last concert as a UK-based organization on May 19 at St John Smith's Square in London. Afterwards, they will relocate their headquarters to Antwerp, Belgium due to Brexit.

In an interview with DW, EUBO Director General Paul James said, "Being a European Union entity, it became a question of when rather than if. We are an official cultural ambassador for the European Union, and we receive co-funding from the European Union" through the European Commission's Creative Europe program. "It made absolutely no sense to continue to run a European Union entity from outside the EU."

For tickets and information on their last performance in London, visit: http://eubo.eu/calendar/concert-in-london-8/

The European Union Baroque Orchestra is like no other orchestra: its modus operandi since its foundation in 1985 has been to audition and select new personnel annually. EUBO's ephemeral existence makes its concerts special: live performances enjoying all the technical accomplishment of the best young baroque musicians in Europe, allied to an infectious undimmed sense of discovery and enjoyment. "The young EUBO musicians play with a captivating freshness and vitality that is hard to match, though they are also as technically accomplished as the members of much more experienced groups." (Early Music)

Members of EUBO come from all over the EU to gain performing experience, working together with some of the world's finest baroque music specialists who nurture and influence the young EUBO musicians with their individual charismatic mixture of leading, educating and performing. Under the inspirational guidance of Music Director Lars Ulrik Mortensen and other leading baroque musicians EUBO performs throughout the EU. Margaret Faultless, Ton Koopman, Roy Goodman, Rachel Podger, Alfredo Bernardini, Paul Agnew, Gottfried von der Goltz and Stefano Montanari have all been guest directors in recent seasons. Over the years EUBO has recorded several CDs, the last four under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen. The most recent release features Vivaldi's Four Seasons with four EUBO alumni as soloists, and Vivaldi's rarely recorded sonnets spoken in the original Italian.

Tours take the talented young orchestra to all corners of Europe - from celebrated city concert halls, to seaside summer festivals, to monasteries nestling in autumnal forests, and to winter celebrations in beautiful churches. And at the centre of these great arcs of European travelling EUBO has established residencies in several cities, most notably as 'orchestra-in-residence' in Echternach, Luxembourg, where, with the support of its local partners, it is creating a centre of excellence for baroque music. EUBO's touring programme is assisted by sponsorship from The Early Music Shop.

EUBO is delighted to be partnered by nine European organisations within a co-operation project 'EUBO Mobile Baroque Academy' with co-funding from the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. The project addresses the unequal provision across the EU of baroque music education and performance in new and creative ways. EUBO has been honoured with the status of Cultural Ambassador for the European Union in perpetuity.

Photo: Violinist Rachel Podger directing the European Union Baroque Orchestra in St John's Smith Square, London 9 May 2016 (c) EUBO

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