Arcangelo
Arcangelo is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed period performance ensemble led by its founder and Artistic Director Jonathan Cohen. From 2025, Arcangelo is proud to be the London Handel Festival’s Principal Ensemble in Residence.
Its ethos is ruled by a determination to apply the deep listening skills and artistry of chamber music making to every piece in its repertoire. The ensemble’s collective energy and spirit continue to generate a flood of critical awards and five-star reviews, spark audience ovations, and prompt invitations to the foremost international venues and festivals.
You could light a bonfire and more with the gusto of Cohen’s musicians, whether beavering through Handel’s dancing rhythms or navigating the solo turns in the work’s many pictorial displays.The Times
Arcangelo's Work
Agile and flexible in formation, Arcangelo convenes hand-picked musicians for five projects a year comprising UK and international concerts and broadcasts, and studio audio and film recordings. The group’s creative development has been decisively shaped with Wigmore Hall, where Arcangelo was the first-ever named Baroque Ensemble in Residence and maintains a close artistic relationship, and with the BBC Proms, where its three appearances to date include the Proms premiere of Handel’s Theodora and a televised performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion.
International appearances in recent seasons include the Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Festival, Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, Santander International Festival, BOZAR Brussels, Liszt Academy Budapest, Barbican Centre, Usher Hall, De Singel Antwerp, De Bijloke Ghent, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro and Sala Sao Paulo, with soloists including Vilde Frang, Iestyn Davies, Nicolas Altstaedt, Avi Avital, Miloš Karadaglić and Kate Lindsey.
A critically acclaimed discography
Arcangelo’s critically lauded discography now comprises a total of 30 releases, including the first new studio recording by a British ensemble in almost 25 years of Handel’s Theodora, immediately awarded a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, BBC Radio 3 Record Review Record of the Week, and Limelight Record of the Month. Further highlights include Buxtehude’s Trio Sonatas Op.1 on Alpha, nominated for a 2018 GRAMMY Award; two Gramophone Award-winning albums with Iestyn Davies on Hyperion; a BBC Music Magazine Award-winning survey of cello concerti by C.P.E. Bach with soloist Nicolas Altstaedt, also on Hyperon; Handel’s Brockes Passion on Alpha, named Album of the Week by BBC Radio 3 and The Sunday Times; and a multiply nominated concept recording with mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, Tiranno, hailed by Gramophone as “a model of what a recital album can be”. The group’s most recent release (June 2025), featuring four of Handel’s ‘Chandos’ Anthems, received five stars and the ‘Choral Choice’ award from BBC Music Magazine.
New Ensemblists Programme
In 2020, Arcangelo launched its New Ensemblists programme to develop the next generation of ensemble musicians specialised in period performance. The scheme provides a two-year programme of bespoke training and opportunities to outstandingly promising young musicians. Alumni of the scheme experience transformed career development and creative impetus.
