Presto Editor's Choice
June 2020

Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Pekka Kuusisto (violin), Sam Swallow (vocalist)

Aurora Orchestra, Nicholas Collon

Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major, K551 'Jupiter'
Richter, Max: Journey (CP1919)
Dowland: Third Booke of Songs, 1603
Adès: Violin Concerto "Concentric Paths"
Bowie: Life on Mars? (Arr. Barber)

Aurora is many things. A virtuosic chamber orchestra, built of extraordinary musicians, giving electrifying performances at the very highest international standard. A pioneering creative community with a boundless appetite for adventure, the broadest of artistic horizons, and a playful approach to presentation.

“Aurora is the most bracing breath of fresh air to invigorate the British classical music scene in the past ten years.” (Richard Morrison, The Times)

A producer of intimate, hand-crafted works of ‘Orchestral Theatre’, sparking vibrant dialogue between music and other art forms. Above all, Aurora is about bringing the richest musical experiences to the broadest possible audience. We’re constantly searching for new ways to heighten engagement with music and help audiences get under the skin of great works: whether by performing whole symphonies from memory, collaborating with dancers or circus performers, commissioning film, combining chamber music with story-telling for children, or simply presenting viscerally powerful chamber orchestra performances in intimate settings.

"Adès's appropriately stratospheric writing is despatched with fearless aplomb by Pekka Kuusisto. The main attractions, though, are an electric Jupiter Symphony (played from memory, and it shows in the best possible way) and Nico Muhly’s haunting arrangement of Dowland’s Time Stands Still, sung with ethereal beauty by Iestyn Davies." - Presto Classical, June 2020.