As Concerto Copenhagen prepares to release a new recording of works by Arvo Pärt and stage Vivaldi’s rarely performed opera Griselda, founder Nikolaj de Fine Licht speaks to The European about the ensemble’s evolving mission, its roots in Danish music culture, and the role of historical performance in modern Europe

On a clear spring morning in Copenhagen, Nikolaj de Fine Licht sits across the table, coffee in hand, ready to talk about the year ahead. The founder and managing director of Concerto Copenhagen is here to discuss two major projects that promise to shape the ensemble’s next chapter: a new recording of works by Arvo Pärt and a rare full staging of Vivaldi’s Griselda.

He’s clearly energised by what’s ahead.

“Both projects feel true to who we are,” he tells me. “They come from different centuries, but they share the same depth, the same emotional clarity. That’s what we’re always looking for.”

Concerto Copenhagen is Denmark’s leading baroque orchestra, known for performing classical music using historical instruments and techniques. Founded in 1991, the group specialises in music from the 17th to early 19th centuries, performed in ways that feel both authentic and emotionally engaging. Now, more than three decades on, the ensemble’s commitment to emotional depth and stylistic range continues—reflected in its upcoming release of works by Arvo Pärt, the revered Estonian composer whose minimalist, meditative style resonates with the ensemble’s core values.

Due for release in May, the album was made in collaboration with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. Featuring a mix of instrumental pieces and vocal works—including music for choir and orchestra—it reflects the ensemble’s ongoing engagement with contemporary composers whose work shares a commitment to clarity and emotional depth. “From the beginning, our focus has been on finding the human experience at the heart of this music,” de Fine Licht says.  “It might be 300 years old, but it still speaks to us. The challenge is to communicate it in a way that feels immediate and relevant.”

De Fine Licht co-founded the ensemble after returning from music studies abroad. At the time, there was very little going on in Denmark in the area of what’s known as ‘historically informed performance’—using original instruments and techniques to reflect how music might have sounded when it was first written. Rather than wait for that tradition to take hold, he and a small group of colleagues built it from the ground up.

Since 2000, artistic direction has been in the hands of Lars Ulrik Mortensen, a Danish harpsichordist who has helped shape the orchestra’s international reputation. Under his guidance, Concerto Copenhagen has recorded widely and performed across Europe, the US, and Asia, earning praise for technically precise yet emotionally rich interpretations of composers like Bach, Handel, and Haydn.

This year’s major live project is Griselda, a rarely staged opera by Vivaldi. It will be presented alongside a concert focused on the composer’s writing for brass instruments, paired with arias from lesser-known operas and cantatas. The aim is to offer audiences a broader perspective on a composer still best known for The Four Seasons.

While Griselda is the flagship performance, the Pärt recording is just as significant: a step toward expanding the group’s identity without losing its foundation. “It’s not about abandoning early music,” de Fine Licht says. “It’s about showing that the same values—clarity, emotion, space—exist in other musical languages too.”

Equally important to de Fine Licht is keeping the ensemble’s work rooted at home. “I believe in investing the same effort in a concert for 150 people in a small town in Denmark as in a concert in one of the world’s top venues with over a thousand in the audience,” he explains.

Looking ahead, the group is building new partnerships across Europe and investing further in digital tools to make its performances and research more widely accessible. “I believe that constant innovation is possible if you never deviate from your human core beliefs and artistic excellence,” de Fine Licht says, “while at the same time constantly embracing and interacting with the possibilities that modern technology offers—especially in the fields of communication and collaboration.”

Further information
coco.dk


Interview: John E. Kaye

Main image: © Mathias Lovgreen