HGOAntiqua Orchestra

HGOAntiqua Orchestra is the period-instrument ensemble used by HGO Trust Ltd in performances of 17th and 18th century opera. HGO Trust, founded in 1990, is a registered UK charity (no. 1168484) which supports young singers and musicians through high quality productions of opera and vocal music. It acts as a vital stepping-stone for young musicians entering a career in opera and concert.

HGO seeks to ensure that the musical experiences of all its productions match, as far as is possible, the intentions of their composers. So for our productions of pre-classical works we have sought in recent years to use period instruments for our accompanying orchestras and ensembles, under the name ‘HGOAntiqua’. This means that not only can we advance young singers, but also support young instrumentalists specializing in period instruments, and enable both singers and instrumentalists to experience together the pre-classical sound world of opera, with its use of continuo, different-timbred instruments and pitches appropriate to the period (A=415 or below).

HGOAntiqua has featured in productions of Handel's 'Partenope' (2019, Jacksons Lane Theatre), Cavalli's 'L'Egisto' (2021, The Cockpit Theatre) and Blow's 'Venus and Adonis' and Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' (2022, The Cockpit Theatre), and also in HGO’s performance (the first in the UK) of Cristiano Lidarti's 1774 Hebrew oratorio, 'Ester' (March 2022).

HGOAntiqua accompanied the 2023 production of Handel's 'Agrippina' at Jacksons Lane Theatre, to enthusiastic reviews - "an excellent band of period instruments" (Seen and Heard International ); "the orchestra at every point verged on stupendous" (Classical Music Daily).

Most recently they backed the 2024 production of 'The Fairy Queen' of Purcell - "HGOAntiqua Orchestra – Seb Gillot directing them from the harpsichord – sounded marvellous” (Plays To See), "a real understanding of the techniques appropriate to Purcell’s music" (Andrew Benson-Wilson), "magically supported by HGOAntiqua Orchestra" (Ham & High).

In November 2025 they will be accompanying HGO’s production of Monteverdi's 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea'.

View past opera programmes here:

Dido and Venus (2022) https://hgo.org.uk/3d-flip- book/venus-dido/

Ester (2022) https://hgo.org.uk/3d- flip-book/ester-v-1-030322/

L'Egisto (2021) https://hgo.org.uk/3d- flip-book/legisto-programme/

Partenope (2019) https://hgo.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2021/03/HGO_ Partenope-programme.pdf