About us

Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra (CGCO) has long been part of the musical life of London, playing in venues and festivals across the city and the south east for many years. Our musicians come from many different professions, including architecture, arts administration, the BBC, IT, law, media, medicine, publishing, finance and education. We are drawn together by a deep commitment to music-making of the highest possible standard, and the desire to create and share great music.

Each season CGCO performs a series of concerts in the beautiful Victorian church of St Peter’s Notting Hill, working with different conductors and artists to constantly enliven the orchestra’s approach. We also play in other London venues such as St Pancras Church, St John’s Smith Square, St James's Piccadilly, Southwark Cathedral and St Jude’s-on-the-Hill, Hampstead and work with a number of choral partners including Eclectic Voices and Newbury and Billingshurst choral societies.

CGCO has a well-deserved reputation for programming the unusual, unexpected and contemporary alongside the familiar, recently giving the world première of The Fallen Elm by Graham Ross with violinist Jamie Campbell. Throughout our long history, we have worked with many fine young artists at the start of their careers (Nicholas Collon, Andrew Gourlay, Harry Ogg, Tamsin Waley-Cohen) and built musical relationships that have continued to flourish over a number of years (Peter Stark, Robert Max, Rafael Wallfisch, Nicholas Daniel), providing a testament to the ongoing quality of our performances. Recent artistic partners include violinist Fenella Humphreys, conductors Holly Mathieson, Mark Shanahan and Graham Ross, and harpsichordist John Irving, who directed a Baroque programme from the keyboard. In Spring 2019 we were excited to commission and premiere a new work for chamber orchestra by Cheryl Frances-Hoad ‘Beyond the Road Begun’.

'What an intrepid band!' Clemency Burton-Hill, BBC Radio 3