La Cetra Baroque Orchestra & Vocal Ensemble Basel

La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel was founded in 1999 on the initiative of Dr. Peter Reidemeister, then director of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since then, it has experienced a rapid rise to the ranks of the world's leading early music orchestras. Through successful collaborations with Theater Basel in opera productions such as Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea (2003) and Orfeo (2008), Cavalli's La Calisto (2010), Handel's Ariodante (2012), Charpentier's Médée (2015), and most recently with Ballet Basel, Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans, La Cetra quickly won the favor of the Basel audience and has become an indispensable part of Switzerland's cultural life. In addition to its Basel theater productions, La Cetra enjoys great international success in acclaimed concerts with singers such as Magdalena Kožená, Carlos Mena, Patricia Petibon, Nuria Rial, and Andreas Scholl, as well as instrumentalists like Nicola Benedetti, Giuliano Carmignola, and Maurice Steger.
La Cetra owes this dynamic development primarily to Andrea Marcon, under whose musical direction the orchestra has been since 2009. A multi-award-winning harpsichordist and organist, Marcon is a sought-after expert on early Italian music and works as a guest conductor with renowned orchestras such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and other European orchestras. Recent highlights in collaboration with La Cetra include the world premiere recording of Antonio Caldara's "Componimento teatrale" La concordia de' pianeti and the recording of works by Claudio Monteverdi and his contemporaries with soloist Magdalena Kožená. Thanks to Andrea Marcon's initiative, the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel has been supported by the La Cetra Vocal Ensemble since 2012.

With a high-caliber, regular concert series in Basel, La Cetra and Marcon aim to allow Basel audiences to share more fully in their international concert successes.