Berliner Barock Solisten

The Berliner Barock Solisten functions as a chamber ensemble focused chiefly on Baroque repertoire and other early music. Its roster adjusts according to the demands of each program and typically comprises between nine and sixteen musicians. The ensemble has collaborated in live performances and studio projects with numerous leading figures in the early-music field.

Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra who shared a commitment to earlier repertory established the Berliner Barock Solisten in 1995. Rainer Kussmaul played a decisive role in its creation and served as artistic director from the outset until 2010, while Raimar Orlovsky has managed the group continuously since its formation. Kussmaul held the position of first violinist with the Berlin Philharmonic from 1993 to 1998; Orlovsky, a recognized specialist in Telemann, has been a violinist in the same orchestra since 1991. Among the ensemble’s other prominent participants have been violists Wolfram Christ and Tanja Christ, violone player Klaus Stoll, and cellist Georg Faust.

Soon after its founding, the Berliner Barock Solisten secured the participation of distinguished early-music conductors such as William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, yet it also appeared under the direction of musicians whose activities spanned wider repertories, among them Simon Rattle. Following Kussmaul’s departure, projects were guided by musicians including Frank Peter Zimmermann, Daniel Hope, and, beginning in 2014, Reinhard Goebel. After a well-received concert devoted to C.P.E. Bach that was recorded for release on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, the ensemble appointed Goebel its artistic director in 2018.

The group’s adaptable stance toward historically informed performance, employing modernized historic instruments together with period bows, has drawn soloists such as Albrecht Mayer, Christine Schäfer, and Thomas Quasthoff. At the same time, the Berliner Barock Solisten have maintained a steady presence at the Berlin Philharmonie, undertaken frequent tours across Germany and Europe, and appeared at the Lucerne Festival and the Zermatt Festival in 2006.

The ensemble’s first recordings emerged in the late 1990s. A 1998 release on RCA Red Seal featuring works by J.S. Bach and Telemann with recorder soloist Michala Petri received widespread attention in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. EMI issued its initial Berliner Barock Solisten recording in 2001, presenting music by J.S. Bach with flutist Emmanuel Pahud. The ensemble earned a Grammy Award in 2005 for its Deutsche Grammophon account of three Bach cantatas and received an Opus Klassik Award in 2018 for its Sony Classical recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. In 2020 the Berliner Barock Solisten and Goebel supported Benjamin Appl on a Hänssler Classic release of cantatas by members of the Bach family.