Friends of the COE

Friends of the COE
Join the COE family!

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE), the quintessentially European model of free and democratically organized orchestral structures, has been enriching the international music scene for more than 40 years. Its refined musicianship, uncompromising commitment to the highest standards of quality, and artistic curiosity have made it a cherished partner for internationally renowned conductors and soloists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir András Schiff, Antonio Pappano, Robin Ticciati, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Magdalena Kožená, Lisa Batiashvili, Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, and many others. For audiences, it has become a true guarantee of moving and exhilarating concert experiences.

What the COE is:

  • A chamber orchestra by conviction – everyone listens to one another, every voice is valued, and the music is celebrated through passionate, authentic, and uncompromising performance.
  • A pioneering model – one of the first privately funded and democratically organized orchestras in Europe, united by its members and partners’ belief in European ideals such as freedom, democracy, and diversity.
  • A community of lifelong learners – curious to work with open-minded and inspiring artists who bring something special. So that together, they can create something extraordinary!

What sets the COE apart:

  • Unique concert experiences with like-minded partners who share the same values, who learn together, who become friends!
  • Sustainable relationships with musicians, concert organizers, residencies (Kronberg Academy, Schloss Esterházy, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Philharmonie Berlin) – and of course, with all supporters and patrons!
  • The realization of a living Europe – its values, its traditions, and its rich musical culture!

What the COE needs – Your support:

  • The COE receives no public funding – the orchestra is financed solely through concert fees and private donations.
  • Its unique organizational structure leads to higher costs for travel and accommodation – musicians travel from different countries for each project.
  • Like any independent enterprise, the COE is subject to market fluctuations: inflation, rising costs for travel, energy, and management – while revenues stagnate due to reduced public cultural funding.

This is where your support is needed:

  • To finance travel and fair fees, to maintain quality, for instruments and transport cases.
  • To support special projects through which the COE continues to develop the international concert scene.
  • To help realize new ideas in the field of education.

Your opportunities to be part of it:

Red Bird Circle: €100 / year +
Your support helps us in all aspects of our work, including concerts, recordings, and education programs. As a thank-you for your contribution, you will receive:

  • Regular news and updates
  • A free CD

Silver Bird Circle: €1,000 / year +
You will have expanded opportunities to engage with the orchestra. As recognition for your support, you will receive:

  • All benefits of the Red Bird Circle – plus:
  • Advance information and access to a priority booking service
  • Invitations to selected intermission receptions
  • The opportunity to go behind the scenes on special occasions
  • Upon request: acknowledgment on the orchestra’s website

Gold Bird Circle: €5,000 / year +
You help us achieve our artistic goals in a particularly sustainable way, staying closely connected to our musicians and creative work. You will also have access to exclusive events:

  • All benefits of the Silver Bird Circle – plus:
  • Invitations to receptions for you and your guests
  • Invitations to exclusive events and concerts with opportunities to meet our musicians
  • Invitations to attend rehearsals – with a seat on stage

Platinum Bird Circle: €10,000 / year +
To ensure that your generous support is used in a way that truly reflects your vision, we work with you to create a personalized support model. As a token of our appreciation, you will receive:

  • All benefits of the Gold Bird Circle – plus:
  • Personalized updates and insights into your supported project, including access to related rehearsals and events
  • A tailored engagement with the orchestra’s activities
  • Exclusive opportunities to dine with musicians and management
  • Whenever possible: invitations to meet conductors and soloists
  • Tour participation and logistical support for attending a COE project

In addition to the “Bird Circles,” you can sponsor an individual musician or artist.

If you would like to join the COE family but are unsure which “Bird Circle” is the best fit for you, please contact us. We offer personalized guidance and would be happy to discuss the most suitable support option for you: a.kerner@concarts-berlin.de

You are also welcome to donate without joining a Circle.

Our bank details:
conc.arts berlin gUG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Commerzbank Berlin
IBAN: DE49 1004 0000 0276 6699 00
BIC/SWIFT: COBADEFFXXX

Please use “Donation Chamber Orchestra of Europe” as the reference.

The COE greatly appreciates donations and aims to ensure that your contribution is tax-deductible whenever possible. Therefore, conc.arts berlin serves as the primary contact for donors in German-speaking regions. You will receive a donation receipt valid for German tax authorities.

Polyphonic Encounters

Polyphonische Begegnungen – Polyphonic Encounters

The Phantasm Viol Consort invites you to polyphonic encounters in Berlin’s St Elisabeth Church: four composer portraits under the sign of polyphony.

From mid-March 2025, the Ensemble Phantasm, a viol consort, will be hosting its own concert series at St Elisabeth’s Church in Berlin-Mitte. The concerts are dedicated entirely to polyphony and will each focus on a composer who is particularly prominent in this compositional technique.

Under the title The Well-Tempered Consort, the opening concert on 14 March 2025 was dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach. The concert also presents the ensemble’s latest recording, The Art of Fugue, which will be released on the same day by Linn Records/Outhere Music.

The concerts of the 2025/26 season offer the Berlin audience opportunities to explore new compositional territory. While the English composers Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell, and William Lawes are well known in their homeland, they remain relatively unfamiliar on the European mainland. With its own concert series, Phantasm not only aims to promote the English polyphonic repertoire, which is rarely performed in Berlin, but also to foster direct engagement with the audience. After the concerts, the ensemble warmly invites attendees to an informal conversation at the bar—an opportunity to ask anything one has ever wanted to know about viols, consort music, and more.

POLYPHONISCHE BEGEGNUNGEN – POLYPHONIC ENCOUNTERS
Save the date – concerts season 2025/26
Sunday, 12 October 2025, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth – Tickets
Sunday, 11 January 2026, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth – Tickets
Sunday, 8 March 2026, 05.00 p.m, St. Elisabeth – Tickets

The concerts take place in the church St Elisabeth, Invalidenstraße 4a, 10115 Berlin.

Phantasm Viol Consort
The multi-award-winning Phantasm Viol Consort was founded by Laurence Dreyfus in 1994 and soon established itself as one of the world’s leading viol ensembles. It has distinguished itself through its excellent technique, rooted in the great traditions of chamber music, as well as through its dramaturgically sophisticated and musically captivating programs.

Laurence Dreyfus, treble viol, conception and artistic direction / Emilia Benjamin, treble viol / Jonathan Manson, alto viol / Heidi Gröger, bass viol and violone / Markku Luolajan-Mikkola, bass viol

If you would like to get to know this wonderful ensemble better: In December 2024, WDR3 published the wonderful programme Klangreden der Besonnnenheit – Laurence Dreyfus und sein Gambenensemble, which you can listen to in the media library.

Past concerts
The Well-Tempered Consort: Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, transcribed for viol consort
Friday, 14 March 2025, 6.00 p.m.

Media partner:

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

Dear colleagues and concert friends,
Before we say goodbye for the Christmas holidays, we would like to wish you a happy and relaxing festive season and a happy new year!
It was an eventful year for us with many special concert experiences: With the young pianists selected for Sir András Schiff’s Building Bridges programme, we performed at venues including the Ehrbar Saal in Vienna, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, deSingel in Antwerp and Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt. Sarah Willis and Sarahbanda have travelled across Europe, to Taiwan and South America. Both projects will of course continue in 2025, the next dates can be found here.

We are particularly looking forward to a new concert series that we are launching in March 2025 together with the wonderful Phantasm Viol Consort in Berlin! You can find out more here.

Mozart y Mambo

CELEBRATING WITH THE SARAHBANDA

Cuban rhythms and Mozart harmonise in small and large ensembles: Sarah Willis, hornist player at Berlin Philharmonic, delights with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and her very own salsa band – The Sarahbanda!.

Together with conductor José Méndez, Sarah Willis has been invited to the Stuttgart International Bach Festival, and will be travelling to Heidelberg with the Sarahbanda at the beginning of April!!

Dates & venues
22 March 2025, Internationales Bachfest Stuttgart
MOZART Y MAMBO
Sarah Willis, horn / Harold Madrigal trumpet / Havana Lyceum Orchestra / José Antonio Méndez Padrón, conductor
Works by W. A. Mozart, J. Davis and more

1 April 2025, Heidelberger Frühling
RONDO ALLA RUMBA
Yuniet Lombida, saxophone / Aylin Pino, violin / Edgar Olivero, piano / Carlos García, double bass / Alejandro Aguiar, percussion / Adel Gonzalez, percussion / Sarah Willis, horn
Works by R. Egües, E. Olivero, C. Valdés, E. Lecuona and more