FestspielOrchester Göttingen

From day one in 2006 the FestspielOrchester Göttingen (FOG) has been winning over audiences and critics alike, drawing special praise for the breadth of their tonal palette and their light, flexible but intense orchestral sound.

Under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, the FOG unites experts in historical performance practice from the international arena of early-music orchestras, such as Les Arts Florissants, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Il Complesso Barocco, and the Orchestra of the 18th Century.

In the 2008 Festival season, the FestspielOrchester Göttingen made guest appearances in Dresden, Hannover, Kassel and Halle/Saale, with performances of the oratorio Samson that delighted their audiences and found rich admiration among the press. In 2009 the orchestra made highly successful operatic guest appearances at the Drottningholm Slottstheater in Sweden and at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Nicholas McGegan was awarded the renowned Herald Angel Award 2009 for his musical direction of Acis und Galatea and of the opera Admeto with the FOG. Recordings released so far on the Carus-Verlag label (Stuttgart) feature Handel’s Samson and Solomon (live recordings from the Dresdner Frauenkirche) and Acis und Galatea (in the arrangement by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy).

The DVD of Admeto (stage production by Doris Dörrie) with the FOG under the musical direction of Nicholas McGegan is due for release in spring 2010 on the C Major label.