Founded in 1999, the name of the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel is taken from Antonio Vivaldi’s violin concerto op. 9 La Cetra – the lyre. This is representative of the core repertoire of the orchestra, the Italian instrumental music of the 18th century. But La Cetra’s focus encompasses the full spectrum of the Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical repertoire.
Since its foundation, La Cetra has rapidly risen to rank among the world’s leading early music ensembles. It is a regular guest at major international festivals such as the Händelfestspiele Halle, Enescu Festival Bucarest, Bachwoche Ansbach, Mozartwochen Salzburg as well as in the most renowned concert halls in Europe (Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Theater an der Wien, Laeiszhalle, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, LAC Lugano and many more). Its regular partnership with the Theater Basel, together with its own «La Cetra in Basel» Series have firmly established La Cetra’s presence and place in Switzerland.
La Cetra owes its dynamic growth in large part to Andrea Marcon, Musical Director since 2009. Since 2012 La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel works hand in hand with the La Cetra Vocal Ensemble, established at the initiative Andrea Marcon and under the direction of Carlos Federico Sepúlveda.
La Cetra enjoys collaborating with acclaimed singers such as Magdalena Kožená, Carlos Mena, Patricia Petibon and Andreas Scholl, as well as instrumentalists such as Nicola Benedetti, Giuliano Carmignola and Maurice Steger.
In 2011 the orchestra made its debut with Deutsche Grammophon with two Mozart recordings followed in 2012 by “Nouveau Monde” with Patricia Petibon. With the world premiere recording of Antonio Caldara’s La Concordia de’ Pianeti in 2014, La Cetra has presented a new musical discovery. The 2016 Grammy-nominated CD entitled “Monteverdi” led La Cetra together with Magdalena Kožená to concerts in Germany, Luxembourg, England and Spain. In August 2016 a new recording of Handel’s Parnasso in festa was released on the Pentatone label. In 2019 two highly acclaimed recordings were released: “Mr Handel’s Dinner” with Maurice Steger on harmonia mundi and a recording of Jean-Marie Leclair violin concertos with Leila Schayegh on Glossa.
