Dunedin Consort

Under longtime leader <a href="spotify:artist:4aYc6yoP53lJmEeiRj9rNt">John Butt</a>, the Dunedin Consort has become Scotland's leading historical-performance ensemble, with a catalog of successful recordings stretching back to the turn of the century and widespread performances and radio broadcasts in the U.K. and beyond. Dunedin (or Din Eidyn) is the historical name of Edinburgh Castle. The Dunedin Consort has reconstructed and made distinguished recordings of early versions of Baroque choral masterpieces. The group's recording catalog focuses mostly on Baroque music, but it has also performed contemporary music.

The Dunedin Consort was founded in 1995 by <a href="spotify:artist:29WzzsoFvLAKulpjdtIaT9">Ben Parry</a> and Susan Hamilton. The group's 2001 recording, In the Beginning, offered not Baroque music but vocal works by <a href="spotify:artist:0nJvyjVTb8sAULPYyA1bqU">Copland</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4XDJurjQCnWLlE7KLZCT9x">Barber</a>, and subsequent recordings on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Delphian%22">Delphian</a> included Renaissance composers (<a href="spotify:artist:2j7yGPnVrdIHjHwtyLPJ2z">Byrd</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1XmMnFJ9jhW4tI7bQuNYFG">Tallis</a>) and The People's Mass, a collection of new Mass Ordinary movements by six Scottish composers. When <a href="spotify:artist:29WzzsoFvLAKulpjdtIaT9">Parry</a> departed in 2003, <a href="spotify:artist:4aYc6yoP53lJmEeiRj9rNt">Butt</a> was chosen as conductor and co-artistic director; he became the music director in 2012, and he continues to hold that position. The Dunedin Consort has often performed or contributed to performances of oratorio, opera, and other large-scale works and recorded the original Dublin version of Handel's Messiah in 2006, winning France's MIDEM Baroque award. The group has toured in continental Europe, Ireland, Israel, and Canada, in addition to appearing at many U.K. venues. The Consort has commissioned new works from <a href="spotify:artist:2BQDNQfUHLrbTDJUtCD7wV">Sally Beamish</a>, William Sweeney, and other composers and is often heard on the BBC 3 and BBC Scotland radio networks.

Internationally, the Dunedin Consort has gained the most attention for its large catalog of recordings, issued mostly on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Linn%22">Linn</a> label. Since <a href="spotify:artist:4aYc6yoP53lJmEeiRj9rNt">Butt</a>'s arrival, the Consort has devoted itself mostly to Baroque works, issuing a reconstructed version of <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a>'s first English oratorio, Esther, HWV 50, and acclaimed recordings of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and violin concertos. The group's 2013 recording of Bach's St. John Passion, BWV 245, was the first to place the work into the context of a liturgical observance. The Consort's 2014 Mozart Requiem in D minor, K. 626, was a reconstruction of the work's first performance after it was published in 1800. In 2017, the Consort released a recording of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Linn%22">Linn</a>. It returned to <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a>, a favorite composer, for recordings of the Ode for St. Cecilia's Day in 2018 and the oratorio Samson, HWV 57, in 2019. By that time, the Consort's recording catalog numbered more than 20 items, and in 2021, it released Ich habe genug, a selection of popular <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a> cantatas, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Linn%22">Linn</a>. The Consort continued issuing albums through the COVID-19 pandemic, including a rare all-orchestral outing of Bach's orchestral suites in 2022, one devoted to choral music by Mozart and C.P.E. Bach in 2023, and Handel in Rome in 2024, all on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Linn%22">Linn</a>. ~ James Manheim, Rovi