Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) was founded by John Eliot Gardiner in 1989 with the aim of providing new perspectives on 19th- and early 20th-century music through stylistic fidelity and intensity of expression.

Since its founding, the ORR has delighted both its audiences and the press in a repertory that reaches from Beethoven to Berlioz and from Verdi to Debussy. Under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner, the orchestra has performed and recorded the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, and appeared in operas by composers such as Weber, Bizet and Verdi.

In the course of its extensive tours across Europe and North America, the ORR has performed the great orchestral masterpieces by Berlioz, including Roméo et Juliette, La Damnation de Faust, the Symphonie fantastique, Harold en Italie and Lélio. To mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death, the orchestra gave the first contemporary performance of his Benvenuto Cellini on period instruments, in Paris.

In the Beethoven anniversary year in 2020 the ORR celebrated its 30th anniversary with a cycle of all the Beethoven symphonies in Europe and the USA. In 2022 its performances of Beethoven’s Missa solemnis received acclaim throughout Europe.

The ORR is under the patronage of HM King Charles III.