About us

With its signature creative ethos, Aurora Orchestra combines world-class performance with adventurous programming and presentation. Founded in 2005 under Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon, it has quickly established a reputation as one of Europe’s leading chamber orchestras, garnering several major awards including two Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, a German ECHO Klassik Award and a Classical:NEXT Innovation Award.

Collaborating widely across art forms and musical genres, Aurora has worked with an exceptional breadth of artists, ranging from Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sarah Connolly and Pierre-Laurent Aimard to Wayne McGregor, Edmund de Waal and Björk. A champion of new music, it has premiered works by composers including Julian Anderson, Benedict Mason, Anna Meredith, Nico Muhly and Judith Weir. In recent years, it has pioneered memorised performance (without the use of printed sheet music) and is thought to be the first orchestra worldwide to perform whole symphonies in this way.

Read our full biography

“The most bracing breath of fresh air to invigorate the British classical music scene in the past ten years.”

Richard Morrison, The Times

Performing from memory

Remove the music stands, and the music becomes even more powerful.

Find out why we memorise

Meet the orchestra

Management

Board

  • Dame Liz Forgan DBE

    Chair

  • Nicholas Hardie

    Trustee

  • Andrew Hochhauser

    Trustee

  • Mike Laven

    Trustee

  • Jenny Lewis

    Trustee

  • Alistair Lomax

    Trustee

  • Ben Lumsden

    Trustee

  • Rachel Mortimer

    Trustee

  • Suzanne Szczetnikowicz

    Trustee

  • Sharon Zhu

    Trustee