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Biography

Founded by Laurence Equilbey and the Hauts-de- Seine General Council in 2012, Insula orchestra is the resident ensemble at the new Parisian arts centre La Seine Musicale. In its short history, appearances at major venues and high-profile festivals throughout France and on the international concert stage have earned the orchestra a reputation for artistic excellence.

Insula orchestra’s repertoire ranges from the Classical to the Romantic eras, with Mozart, Schubert and Weber at its core in both symphonic and choral programmes. Performing on period instruments, its playing is adapted to the acoustics of today’s large concert halls. The musicians, based around a core of renowned section leaders, also perform chamber music.

Latest News

Insula Orchestra's new CD of music by Louise Farrenc

4-star review for Insula Orchestra's Farrenc Symphonies 1-3 album in Classical Music

4-star review in Guardian for Insula Orchestra's latest Louise Farrenc album

Insula Orchestra's latest Louise Farrenc disc is album of the week in Classic FM

The film is a work of baroque sensibility, both shockingly beautiful and liberating..." Sky Burial Concert Review

"A massively moving, profound experience..." Insula orchestra's Sky Burial concert review

Laurence Equilbey opens the 2022-23 season at La Seine Musicale

Insula Orchestra's season opener boasts magnificent Farrenc and Beethoven - Classical Explorer

Insula Orchestra Unveils 2022-23 Season

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Insula orchestra and Laurence Equilbey champion Louise Farrenc on disc

In a new recording to be released on Warners Erato on 9 July 2021, Laurence Equilbey and her period-instrument Insula orchestra champion the Symphonies of Louise Farrenc, a prominent and pioneering figure in 19th century Paris. Recorded live in concert in March 2021, this album presents two of Farrenc’s three symphonies, No. 1 in C minor, first heard in 1845, and No. 3 in G minor, premiered in 1849.

Farrenc’s rich harmonic writing, vivid colours and lyricism shine through in the performance by Insula orchestra, which specialises in performing Classical and Romantic repertoire on period instruments.

Insula orchestra’s phantasmagorical Der Freischütz released on CD & DVD on Warner Classics, 200 years after the work’s premiere

200 years after the work’s premiere, Insula orchestra and Laurence Equilbey release a new recording of Carl Maria von Weber’s bewitching Der Freischütz, championing the work’s vivid instrumental colours on period instruments with highlights of the orchestra’s 2019 production on CD & DVD.

The Freischütz Project will be released on Warner Classics on 26 February 2021, with a cast led by Stanislas de Barbeyrac as the young forester Max and Johanni van Oostrum as his beloved Agathe, with Vladimir Baykov as the devil’s assistant, Kaspar.

Insula orchestra continues its series of radical multimedia productions, staging works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann

Insula orchestra announce a bewitching 2020-21 season headlined by radical new multimedia productions of Magic Mozart by stage magicians Cie 14:20, and Schumann’s Night of Kings, culminating in the orchestra’s second performance at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Magic Mozart, the orchestra’s new studio recording of the arias involved in the production, is released on 18 September 2020 with Warner Classics.

Led by founder and director Laurence Equilbey, the period orchestra completes its European tour of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony in Brussels, staged by La Fura dels Baus, and visits London on tour with Mozart’s celebrated Requiem.

Marking Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary, Insula orchestra and La Fura dels Baus stage Pastoral for the Planet for UN World Environment Day with European tour

Marking UN World Environment Day on 5 June 2020, Laurence Equilbey and her Insula orchestra join Carlus Padrissa of the Catalan theatre group La Fura dels Baus to create a daring new multimedia production, Pastoral for the Planet, with 360° video projections.

55 musicians, actors and dancers will participate in the project, pairing Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony no. 6 with the music of his contemporaries: Anton Reicha, Julius Rietz, Fanny Hensel-Mendessohn, and Carl Maria von Weber creating a tale of the relationship between mankind and the natural world.

Laurence Equilbey takes Insula orchestra on tour worldwide in 2019 and 2020

Over their 2019-2020 season, Laurence Equilbey and her Insula orchestra venture beyond their Parisian home, La Seine Musicale, taking their daring multimedia productions to Germany and China. A major new production of Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony no. 6 tours to Shanghai in May 2020 with ecological video projections by Carlus Padrissa of La Fura dels Baus, before returning to Dortmund in June. Over 2019, Insula orchestra take Der Freischütz to Ludwigsburg, Luxembourg and London and a Scottish-themed programme to its German roots in Köln in September.

A gravity-defying staging of Mozart’s unfinished Requiem with Yoann Bourgeois and Insula orchestra

Insula orchestra and conductor Laurence Equilbey let silence speak this June as they present a unique gravity-defying staging of Mozart’s seminal Requiem in Lyon and Paris. This new production sees the unfinished composition performed in its fragmented form with a staging directed by the acrobat and dancer Yoann Bourgeois. Insula orchestra perform with accentus choir and soloists Hélène Carpentier & Natalie Perez, Giuseppina Bridelli & Eva Zaïcik, Jonathan Abernethy, and Christian Immler.

Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra tour a new phantasmagorical production of Der Freischütz, concluding at the Barbican Centre on 4 November

Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra introduce a phantasmagorical new semi-staged performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz, the famous tale of dark magic and the spectacular, at the Barbican Centre in London on 4 November, following a fully-staged tour to Caen, Aix-en- Provence, Ludwigsburg and Paris, with concert performances in Brussels and Vienna. The orchestra return to London for the first time since performing the music of Louise Farrenc on International Women’s Day in 2018.

Insula orchestra launch their 18/19 Season and release a CD of Beethoven Piano Concertos with Nicholas Angelich

Insula orchestra and Laurence Equilbey launch their 2018/19 Season coinciding with a new disc of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos no. 4 and no. 5 with pianist Nicholas Angelich in September. On 8 March 2019, Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra will present a staged production of Weber’s Der Freischütz in Aix-en-Provence for International Women’s Day. Directors Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro will create a magical realisation of the work, which then tours to Vienna, Ludwigsburg, and Brussels before the season finishes with an experimental, semi-staged Mozart’s Requiem with director Yoann Bourgeois on 27-30 June 2019 at the orchestra’s home, La Seine Musicale.

Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra brandish Suffragette Tricolour by its original manufacturer for International Women’s Day

To mark International Women’s Day, Laurence Equilbey and Insula orchestra will bear the Suffragette’s Tricolour with ribbons made by the original manufacturer, Toye, for tonight’s concert at the Barbican.

Laurence Equilbey and her Insula orchestra markes International Women’s Day at the Barbican Centre

Insula orchestra and its pioneering conductor Laurence Equilbey, whose new concert hall opened in Paris last spring, return to the Barbican on Thursday 8 March to celebrate International Women’s Day. Equilbey dedicates the programme to the rarely-performed music of Louise Farrenc (1804-1875), pairing her Symphony no.3 with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with violinist Alexandra Conunova, cellist Natalie Clein and pianist Alice Sara Ott.

Laurence Equilbey announces Insula orchestra’s first season at their new home

Laurence Equilbey announces Insula orchestra’s first season at their critically-acclaimed new home La Seine Musicale celebrating the multi- media capabilities of their Shigeru Ban-designed concert hall to their full potential. The season opens with a rarely staged version of Goethe’s play Egmont with musical interludes by Beethoven directed by Séverine Chavrier on 21 and 22 September, which will tour to Vienna in December.

Laurence Equilbey and her vibrant Insula orchestra tour to Basel in March, followed by a return to Vienna for Mozart’s Lucio Silla at the Theater an der Wien featuring Franco Fagioli

Continuing their touring this season with London in September and Basel in March, French conductor Laurence Equilbey returns with her new ensemble Insula orchestra to Austria for Mozart’s Lucio Silla in a semi-staged performance at the Theater an der Wien on 27 April 2016. Acclaimed countertenor Franco Fagioli stars alongside soprano Olga Pudova and tenor Paolo Fanale in this performance, staged by Argentinian director Rita Cosentino. Insula orchestra is to become the vibrant resident ensemble at the new Paris arts centre - La Cité Musicale de L’île Seguin – under construction on the site of the former Renault car factory on an island in the Seine in the south east side of the French capital. Following their recent Salzburg and London debuts, the 2015/16 season continues to see Insula orchestra take to the international stage. Ahead of their Vienna debut with Lucio Silla, the orchestra takes Beethoven’s Eroica to Basel on 9 March.

Laurence Equilbey and her vibrant Insula orchestra make their UK debut at the Barbican Centre on 21 September 2015, coinciding with their CD release of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Franco Fagioli

French conductor Laurence Equilbey brings her new ensemble Insula orchestra with the renowned accentus choir to London for their UK debut at the Barbican Centre on 21 September 2015, with a programme of masterpieces entitled Magnificat. Insula orchestra is to become the vibrant resident ensemble at the new Paris arts centre - La Cité Musicale de L’île Seguin – under construction on the site of the former Renault car factory on an island in the Seine in the south east side of the French capital. Following their Salzburg debut last year and the Barbican in September, the 2015/16 season sees Insula orchestra taking to the international stage with further touring to Basel for an all-Beethoven programme and a concert performance of Mozart’s Lucio Silla in Vienna.