The Worcestershire-based ESO, the International Orchestra of Elgar Country, is an ensemble which in recent years has become synonymous with artistic excellence, innovative and visionary programming, distinctive commissioning, ground-breaking recording, a welcoming and immersive concert experience, transformative youth programmes and service to the community.

Since 2013, the orchestra has re-emerged as a major force in British musical life, presenting and recording the orchestra’s first full-length opera (the world premiere of John Joubert’s Jane Eyre) to overwhelming critical acclaim, presenting the 2015 and 2016 Classical Music Magazine “Premiere of the Year”, and releasing a triumphant series of recordings including Donald Fraser’s orchestration of the Elgar Piano Quintet (Classic FM Disc of the Week) and the Complete Piano Concertos of Ernst Krenek (Sunday Times Best Recordings of 2016).

British music has always been a central part of the orchestra’s mission. Appropriately for an orchestra based in Elgar’s home town, the ESO has made many acclaimed recordings of that composer’s music, and that of other major 20th century British composers including Vaughan Williams, Britten, Butterworth and Bridge. The ESO discography highlights a commitment to the music of our time; in addition to the notable recordings which grew out of the orchestra’s affiliation with Sir Michael Tippett, are recordings of music by John Metcalfe, John Joubert, and Michael and Lennox Berkeley. John McCabe served as the orchestra’s Composer-in-Association from 2013 until his death in 2015. Following McCabe’s passing, the ESO appointed Philip Sawyers as “John McCabe Composer-in-Association”. Sawyers, who continues his association with the ESO as Composer Laureate, has since been succeeded by David Matthews (2018-19) and Adrian Williams (2019-).

In 2017, the ESO and conductor Kenneth Woods launched the 21st Century Symphony Project, a multi-year effort to commission, premiere and record nine new symphonies by leading composers of our time. In 2017, the orchestra premiered the Third Symphony of Philip Sawyers, hailed by Classical Source at its premiere as “a masterpiece”; the subsequent recording on Nimbus was named a Gramophone Critics’ Choice as one of the Best Recordings of 2017.