Orchester Le Phénix

Switzerland's Orchester Le Phénix is a historical-instrument ensemble with an unusual specialty: the music of the middle 18th century. The group has performed with top early music soloists, and its recordings have been honored with top prizes. With headquarters in the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland, Orchester Le Phénix was founded in 2008 by Christine Meyer and Mathias Kleiböhmer, both cellists. With a full membership of about 20, the group can contract into smaller forces depending on repertory. The players are trained in both modern and historically informed playing techniques. The orchestra's name comes from the title of a cello concerto by French composer Michael Corrette (1707-1795), and its recordings have focused on the pre-Classical period. Orchester Le Phénix, however, has played a wider range of music in concert, from the High Baroque to Brahms and Rachmaninov. At first the group played concerts most often in the towns of Arosa and Chur, but its schedule has expanded to include other Swiss cities like Zurich (where they maintain an office) and, occasionally, abroad; they have appeared at the Musikverein in Vienna and, in the fall of 2018, at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. The orchestra is notable, however, for the degree to which it has concentrated its efforts in its home country. Among the prominent soloists who have visited are Emma Kirkby, John Holloway, Andreas Staier, Heinz Holliger, Christophe Coin, Maurice Steger, Pierre Favre, and Giora Feidman. Orchester Le Phénix won Germany's prestigious ECHO Klassik prize in 2016 with an album of cello concertos by the Viennese composer Georg Christoph Wagenseil. The group has recorded mostly for Germany's Coviello Classics label, issuing an album containing Luigi Boccherini's rarely played Stabat Mater and Symphony in D major on that label in 2018. It has also participated in Chur and at the Bergen International Festival, in staged Bach cantata performances directed by Peter Konwitschny.
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