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Collegium Musicum Copenhagen was a Danish chamber orchestra, specializing in Baroque music and new music. The orchestra was founded by the later professor of musiccology at Aarhus University Søren Sørensen and the conductor Lavard Friisholm and existed in the years 1944-1978. It was a professional part-time project, and the musicians had to seek additional work elsewhere.
From the beginning, the orchestra played music for small crews from the 16th and 18th century, but later the orchestra also performed works for the classical symphony orchestra with 30-40 musicians, works by J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel and W.A. Mozart. They managed to engage internationally renowned soloists such as Endre Wolf, Robert Riefling, Nathan Milstein, Walter Gieseking, Irmgard Seefried, Edwin Fischer, Else Brems, Victor Schiøler and Finn Viderø.
But also the new music came on the program. Works by composers as Herman D. Koppel, Igor Stravinsky, Vagn Holmboe, Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, Niels Viggo Bentzon, Poul Rovsing Olsen, Knudåge Riisager, Ib Nørholm, Gunnar Berg, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen and Jan Maegaard were given their performance or first performance in Denmark in concerts of Collegium Musicum Copenhagen at the Odd Fellow Palæet (Odd Fellow Palace).
Just a few years after the end of the orchestra in 1978, a new Collegium Musicum Copenhagen emerged. |
