Established - 1996
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Monica Huggett - Artistic Director
Claire Duff - Leader
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Carla Vedres - Production Manager

• Performing baroque music using period instruments in live contexts
• Developing awareness of baroque music through education
• Creating a premium experience for all involved

The Irish Baroque Orchestra is Ireland’s only professional period instrument orchestra. Established in 1996 by Mark Duley and Thérèse Timoney, the Irish Baroque Orchestra has worked with many of the world’s greatest baroque players. Amongst the orchestra’s members are the most acclaimed young players in the international early music scene, many of whom work with the world’s finest ensembles. Using either baroque instruments or modern replicas, the orchestra explores the playing techniques and stylistic practices associated with music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and gives Irish audiences the rare and precious opportunity to hear this music in live performances that recreate the vivid colours and textures of the baroque sound world.

The orchestra presents four seasons of concerts annually along with a number of one off events. Such an arrangement allows for the most effective development of the ensemble’s sound and the players’ skills, as well as facilitating themed programming. In addition, each season includes a week of education initiatives, in conjunction with Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama. These seasons form the backbone of the orchestra’s work, its development and its artistic profile. Central to each season is a guest leader/director of international standing.

“Saturday’s performance wove its magic with skill …. Monica Huggett and the players of the Irish Baroque Orchestra delivered it with appreciative style”
(Michael Dervan, The Irish Times, March 05)

“The Hogwood approach was ‘let’s clean off the old varnish and let the bright colours come out’…. I think I’ve got a little bit of a historian in me …. When you dip into the 16th century you can’t even begin to play that music without some awareness of the structure of society and things like that.”
(Monica Huggett interviewed by Michael Dervan, The Irish Times, May 05)

“The playing of this almost entirely Irish orchestra had élan and certainty”
(Martin Adams, The Irish Times February 04)