Mahler Chamber Orchestra
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO), an international touring orchestra, is on the move approximately 200 days each year. The ensemble had its breakthrough just a few months after its founding in 1997 with a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the opera festival in Aix-en-Provence under the direction of Claudio Abbado. Since then, the MCO has appeared all over the world, giving performances in major musical centres as well as at exclusive festivals.
With wide-ranging education projects, the MCO is also increasingly involved in community and outreach work. The MCO has been recognised as an official European Cultural Ambassador for the years 2011 to 2013.
Alongside founder Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding has been a formative figure in the MCO's history. Further important artistic collaborations include the conductors Pierre Boulez, Kent Nagano, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniele Gatti and Tugan Sokhiev and the soloists Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Martha Argerich, Kolja Blacher, and Isabelle Faust.
A core project from 2012-2015 is The Beethoven Journey with Leif Ove Andsnes, Artistic Partner of the MCO: a Beethoven Cycle presented on extensive concert tours and recorded by Sony Classical.
The MCO is orchestra-in-residence at Ferrara Musica in Italy, in the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia, and at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, where it forms the core of Claudio Abbado's Lucerne Festival Orchestra.