The orchestra was founded in 1987 by conductor and keyboard player Jos van Immerseel. Their recordings of the complete Mozart keyboard concerti and the complete Schubert symphonies in the 1990s are just a couple of the many milestones in Anima Eterna’s rich history. Their complete Beethoven symphonies, recorded in 2008, have also become an absolute reference recording. Over the years, Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna have shifted the boundaries of their own repertoire again and again. Although the orchestra focused on baroque music in its early days, it gradually conquered classical, romantic and even early-20th-century music. For each of these repertoires, the orchestra has succeeded in setting new standards in performance practice through its sustained research, and with performances in the world’s major concert halls including Lincoln Center in New York, the Sydney Opera House, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and of course the Bruges Concertgebouw, where Anima Eterna has been artist in residence since 2002.

The orchestra has an especially wide-ranging discography of over fifty titles, on the Channel Classic Records, Zig-Zag Territoires and Alpha Classics labels, distributed world-wide by Outhere Music. Pablo Heras-Casado will also record Bruckner symphonies with Anima Eterna for the Harmonia Mundi label. In 2021, Jos van Immerseel stepped down as artistic director, but still lends his support to the orchestra with masterclasses. He will also be helping to expand the Anima Eterna archives in the coming years, and he still makes an appearance with his favourite orchestra once a season.

More informations: https://animaeterna.be

As of: Season 2022/23