The Consort of Twelve is an ensemble of musicians which specialises in the performance of Baroque music using the styles, techniques and instruments of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The Consort was founded in 1982 and has hosted many concerts both in the Chichester area and further afield. It generally gives three concerts a year in the Sussex/Hampshire area. The concerts usually take place in churches, where the acoustics and intimate atmosphere are particularly suited to baroque music.
The make-up of baroque orchestras depends on the repertoire but, typically, it might consist of 13 string instruments, several woodwind players and a harpsichord. The players in such an orchestra are generally directed by the leader, the first violinist, though when working with a choir they might have a conductor.
Many of the players of the Consort regularly perform with some of the country’s most prestigious period orchestras, including The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Monteverdi Orchestra, Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique, English Baroque Soloists, The Hanover Band and Florilegium and La Serenissima.
