Introduction

Askonas Holt holds a very special relationship with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – the UK’s top period instrument ensemble. Over the past eighteen years we have arranged tours with a great variety of artists, including Ian Bostridge and Robin Ticciati, and Principal Artists Sir Simon Rattle and Iván Fischer.

In addition to the tours to Europe’s leading concert halls with Sir Simon Rattle, we have arranged performances and tours in Asia and Australasia, Japan, Korea and Taipei (with Viktoria Mullova in 2003 and Robin Ticciati in 2008); and with Iván Fischer to Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur (March 2006) and Nicola Benedetti to the USA and Abu Dhabi in 2018.

2016 marked a special year for Askonas Holt and the OAE, with projects together to Vienna and Asia with Ian Bostridge, and Europe with Sir Simon Rattle.  In February 2016 Askonas Holt  brought the OAE to China and South Korea, and we were thrilled to bring the ensemble to Paris and Brussels with Sir Simon Rattle in a programme that included Bruckner’s dynamic Symphony No. 6.

2019 has been an incredibly busy year for Askonas Holt and the OAE with tours to Europe in February with Magdalena Kožená and Sir András Schiff in March. April 2019 marked an incredible four-date tour of Bach’s St John Passion with Sir Simon Rattle conducting, Petter Sellars directing and an all-star line-up of singers.  This November the OAE performs twice in the USA at Lincoln Center’s White Nights Festival, New York and in Oberlin, Ohio with Askonas Holt artists Jonathan Cohen and Iestyn Davies.