About Corelli Concerts

Corelli Concerts began when Warwick Cole founded the Corelli Chamber Orchestra. Initially a modern-instrument string orchestra specialising in music of the 18th century, it soon developed its programming presenting 19th and 20th music in conjunction with its core repertoire. Although based in Cheltenham (England), it has performed throughout the UK for music festivals, societies and clubs.

Now, specialising in period-instrument performance we promote a varied series of concerts in and around Cheltenham as well as providing orchestras and ensembles for other concert promoters further afield.

We chose the name 'Corelli' in honour of Archangelo Corelli, the 17th-century Italian violinist and composer. Corelli's music is distinctive: it was he who first established the principles of melodic elegance twinned with harmonic control which was to become the foundation of much 18th-century music.

Described recently by The Independent as 'top-notch' and as having 'impeccable instrumental ensemble', the Corelli Orchestra is one of the country's few regionally-based period-instrument orchestras. Resident at the Pittville Pump Room since 2003, and directed from the harpsichord by its founder Warwick Cole, it is modelled in its style and composition on eighteenth-century court orchestras.

Central to the Corelli's ethos is a commitment to vibrant, engaging performances - 'the players have their own individual charisma which visibly communicates' (Classical Music) - and a desire to explore the still untapped riches of eighteenth-century music.

Recent 'firsts' in its innovative programming have taken in St Georges, J. C. F. Bach and Vivaldi-pupil, Giovanni Verocai. But above all, the emphasis is on the needs of its audiences: to date, the Corelli Orchestra has received no state funding or sponsorship and is thus uniquely market orientated.