The King's Consort & Robert King - Mozart: Epistle Sonatas (2008)

The King's Consort was founded at Cambridge University in England by Robert King, at the time a 20-year-old student. At first, the King's Consort consisted only of a small choir and band, but its concerts attracted such acclaim and positive critical notices that by 1982, King was able to establish the Consort as a full-time professional orchestral ensemble based out of London. In the five years that followed, the King's Consort toured widely and made a small number of recordings for Meridian and IMP. In 1987, King made the acquaintance of Hyperion Records founder and president Ted Perry. From this point forward, the King's Consort has recorded exclusively for Hyperion, a partnership that has been witnessed on more than 75 releases, the combined sales of which exceed a million copies. The King's Consort has recorded all of the odes, welcome music, anthems, and services of Henry Purcell, and its recordings of George Frideric Handel's operas and oratorios are likewise justly celebrated, having been awarded numerous recording prizes. By spring 2003, the King's Consort had completed recording all of Antonio Vivaldi's sacred music and was in preparation to perform the same service for Claudio Monteverdi. King has made much headway into researching the lesser-known regions of Baroque sacred literature and as a result, the King's Consort has recorded works of such lesser-known composers as Johann Adolf Hasse, John Blow, Sebastian Knupfer, and Johann Schelle. One of the King's Consort's most outstanding projects is a reconstruction of the musical program of the Coronation of King George II, a significant political event that occurred in 1727. As the King's Consort has recorded to such a prolific extent, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that it also tours worldwide, having appeared in the Far East, both North and South Americas, and in every country in Europe.