Irish Baroque Orchestra – excellence in authentic period performance
The Irish Baroque Orchestra is like no other group performing in Ireland today. Driven by the belief that the best things in life stand the test of time, the orchestra allows Irish audiences to experience the beauty of baroque music as it was intended to be heard. Under the artistic direction of Peter Whelan, each member of the orchestra continuously seeks to explore the playing techniques and performance styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and performs only on baroque instruments or modern replicas. The result is as vivid as a freshly restored oil painting: the colour, simmering tension, and highly charged emotion of this incredible music bursts to the surface, carrying the listener back 300 years to the fascinating sights and sounds of 18th Century Europe.

Although the IBO has its roots in the past, it is a dynamic and constantly evolving organisation with its sights firmly set on the future. Today, its exceptional musicians perform regularly throughout Ireland and abroad, and continue to receive widespread critical acclaim.

‘Flights of Fantasy’, a recording of early Italian chamber music was released in 2010 on the Avie label, and received a glowing international response. The disk was subsequently listed in the NEW YORKER’S most memorable moments in music for 2010: top recording of the year. IBO’s most recent recording Concerti Bozarri was released in 2016 on the Linn Label to great critical acclaim- ‘…virtuosic razzle-dazzle…deliciously alert, spirited, and free from affectation, its clarity is beautifully matched by the recording..’ BBC Music Magazine (August 2016)