New London Consort
New London Consort was a London-based Renaissance and Baroque music ensemble, which performed in most of Europe and various other parts of the world. Founded and directed by Philip Pickett, most of its repertoire was recorded and broadcast by BBC (radio and television) and regularly appeared at major venues and festivals. This repertoire included unpublished works and new interpretations of familiar ones, sometimes controversial. The group has been inactive since its director's conviction as a sex offender in 2015. The ensemble. One of the world’s leading early music ensembles, The New London Consort (NLC ) was founded in London by Philip Pickett. All of the principal artists have solo careers in addition to their work with NLC. In 2010 the New London Consort was appointed Associate Artists of Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Repertoire. Its repertoire focused on medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, including operas of the early Baroque period, and much of this work was unpublished or reconstructed. Productions included Monteverdi’s "L’Orfeo", Bach’s "Easter Oratorio", Purcell’s "Indian Queen", Purcell and Eccles’ version of "Don Quixote", "Acis & Galatea" and "Dido & Aeneas". Some of their reinterpretations of familiar works were controversial. One example is  their version of Purcell’s "The Fairy Queen", which did not base its plot on "A Midsummer Night’s Dream"; instead, its cast of nine singers and five circus artists were in modern dress, travelling to Arcadia. It was panned by London’s Financial Times, which cited the production's being “divorced” from the Shakespeare play, calling it a “disappointment” and “uninteresting.” Performances and recordings. The New London Concert has performed regularly at major festivals and concert halls, in most of Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and China/Hong Kong. These include performances at the Perth International Arts Festival , the Strasbourg Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Sage Gateshead, the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Birmingham’s Town Hall, the Beijing Music Festival, Israel Festival Jerusalem, and many appearances at the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico. They appear regularly at London’s Southbank, where they were a resident ensemble from 1996 to 2005. Much of its repertoire has been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and they have appeared the television programmes "BBC Music in Time", "BBC2 Music in Camera" and both of the Westminster Abbey Purcell Centenary concerts in 1995. They have recorded  soundtracks for Channel 4’s "Tales from the Decameron", BBC TV’s "Shakespeare Series", and films such as "Lady Jane", "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves", "A Man for all Seasons", "Hamlet", "Dangerous Beauty", "Nostradamus" and "Elizabeth". Since 1985, they have recorded exclusively for Decca, with the exception of a series of CDs for LINN Records and the CD "Music for Queen Mary" with the Choir of Westminster Abbey. Discography. Albums with other groups:: Recompilations and boxed sets: