Dunedin Consort is one of the world’s leading Baroque ensembles, recognized for its vivid and insightful performances and recordings. Formed in 1995 and named after Din Eidyn, the ancient Celtic name for Edinburgh Castle, Dunedin Consort’s ambition is to make early music relevant to the present day. Under the direction of John Butt, the ensemble has earned two coveted Gramophone Awards – for the 2007 recording of Handel’s Messiah and the 2014 recording of Mozart’s Requiem – and a Grammy nomination. In 2021, it won the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble award. 

Dunedin Consort performs regularly at major festivals and venues across the UK, giving its BBC Proms debut in 2017 with a performance of Bach’s St John Passion. In the same year, Dunedin Consort announced its first residency at London’s Wigmore Hall, complementing its regular series of events at home in Scotland, as well as throughout Europe and beyond. It enjoys close associations with the Edinburgh International Festival and Lammermuir Festival, and broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and BBC Scotland. The group’s growing discography on Linn includes Handel’s Acis and Galatea and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, both nominated for Gramophone Awards. Other Bach recordings include the Mass in B minor, Violin Concertos, Magnificat, Christmas Oratorio, St Matthew and St John Passions, which was nominated for a Recording of the Year award in both Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine.

While Dunedin Consort is committed to performing repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical periods, and to researching specific historical performance projects, it remains an enthusiastic champion of Contemporary music. The ensemble has commissioned and premiered new music by William Sweeney, Errollyn Wallen, Peter Nelson and Sally Beamish, and, in 2019, premiered four new co-commissions with the BBC Proms, specially composed to be interpolated between Bach’s four orchestral suites.