The orchestra Les Musiciens du Prince — Monaco was founded in spring 2016 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on the initiative of Cecilia Bartoli and in collaboration with Jean-Louis Grinda, then the general director of the house. The project received the immediate support of HSH Prince Albert II and HRH Princess Caroline of Hanover. As the ensemble’s artistic director, Cecilia Bartoli has assembled some of the world’s finest musicians playing on period instruments to create an orchestra inspired by the musical traditions that flourished at Europe’s great courts in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The orchestra’s repertory extends from music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras to the Classical and Romantic periods — from Monteverdi to Handel and Vivaldi, and from Mozart to Rossini. In 2025 the orchestra had great success with its first interpretations of works by Wagner, in which, under the direction of its chief conductor Gianluca Capuano, it followed a rigorous interpretative approach and a specific sound concept. Following performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, the orchestra will continue the Ring tetralogy in the coming years.
Les Musiciens du Prince and Cecilia Bartoli perform at leading European music venues and regularly appear at the Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festivals. The orchestra has performed here in staged productions of Ariodante (2017), Alcina (2019), Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (2021), Il barbiere di Siviglia (2022), Orfeo ed Euridice and L’Orfeo (2023) and La clemenza di Tito (2024), in the Vivaldi pasticcio Hotel Metamorphosis (2025) and in several concerts.
In 2026 the orchestra celebrates its tenth anniversary with a series of concerts and tours, including a residency at the Berlin State Opera in November. In May 2026 it releases its first purely orchestral album, Concerti per vari strumenti II, as part of the label Naïve’s renowned Vivaldi edition. This summer, the award-winning Salzburg production Hotel Metamorphosis will be released on DVD.
