La guitare de Miloš, fantaisie baroque

Jonathan Cohen has forged a remarkable career as a conductor, cellist and keyboardist. Well known for his passion and commitment to chamber music Jonathan is equally at home in such diverse activities as baroque opera and the classical symphonic repertoire. He is the new Artistic Director of the Handel and Haydn Society, in addition to continuing as Artistic Director of Arcangelo, Music Director of Les Violons du Roy and Artistic Director of Tetbury Festival.

Throughout the 23-24 season, Jonathan continues to have a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe he guest conducts Budapest Festival Orchestra, Kammerorchester Basel, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege and Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorhcester. In his first season as their new Artistic Director, Jonathan leads the Handel & Haydn Society in Baroque masterpieces including Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Messiah. He conducts further performances of Messiah with San Francisco Symphony whilst projects with Les Violons du Roy include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and a US tour with Milos Karadaglic.

Jonathan founded Arcangelo in 2010 to create high quality bespoke projects. The ensemble was the first named Baroque Ensemble in Residence at Wigmore Hall, where it enjoys a continuing close association, and has toured to exceptional halls and festivals including Philharmonie Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, Barbican Centre, Kölner Philharmonie, Salzburg Festival, MA Festival Bruges, with three appearances at the BBC Proms including the premiere of Handel Theodora (2018) and a televised performance of Bach St Matthew Passion (2021).

Arcangelo’s founding commitment to the recording studio has produced 28 critically lauded albums including Arias for Guadagni and Bach Cantatas with Iestyn Davies (Hyperion; Gramophone Award 2012 and 2017), Mozart Violin Concertos with Vilde Frang (Warner; ECHO Klassik Award 2015) C.P.E. Bach Cello Concertos with Nicolas Altstaedt (Hyperion; BBC Music Magazine Award 2017), Buxtehude Trio Sonatas Op.1 (Alpha Classics; GRAMMY Nominee 2018), Tiranno with Kate Lindsey (Alpha; Sunday Times Records of the Year 2021). Arcangelo’s latest recordings include Sacroprofano with Tim Mead (Alpha; released 2023), Handel Theodora and Buxtehude Opus Posthumous (Alpha; releasing 2024), Handel Chandos Anthems (Alpha; releasing 2025) and a landmark project with Nicolas Altstaedt to make the first survey on period instruments of Boccherini’s Cello Concertos (Alpha).

Firmly positioned as a leading exponent of his instrument, Miloš has appeared in some of the most important concert halls and at major festivals around the world, including with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, and Cleveland Orchestra.

His first three releases on Deutsche Grammophon achieved chart-topping successes around the globe and turned him into “classical music’s guitar hero” (BBC Music Magazine) overnight. His recording of Rodrigo’s concerto with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the London Philharmonic had the Sunday Times calling him “The King of Aranjuez”, while his record, Blackbird–The Beatles Album — including duets with Gregory Porter, Tori Amos, Steven Isserlis, and Anoushka Shankar – was released to unanimous praise. Miloš’ 2019 album, Sound of Silence, joined his previous albums, in reaching No. 1 on the UK Classical charts, and on Amazon.

Miloš is the first ever classical guitarist to have performed in solo recital at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Guardian commenting: “More extraordinary by far was the way a single guitarist could shrink the Hall’s cavernous space into something so close.” The Independent concluded: “not only a magician, but a serious and accomplished musician”.

In August 2018 Miloš made a triumphant return to the hall. In front of 6000 people at the BBC Proms, he performed the world premiere of Joby Talbot’s guitar concerto, Ink Dark Moon written especially for him, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Committed to commissioning new repertoire for the guitar, Miloš joined the NAC Ottawa in May 2019 to perform another concerto written especially for him, ‘The Forest’ by Howard Shore.

In 2021, Miloš released his sixth album The Moon and the Forest, featuring the Talbot and Shore concerti as well as Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Full Moon’ and Schumann’s ‘Traumerei’. This latest album marks Miloš’s 10-year anniversary with Decca and was hailed by Gramophone as offering “new perspectives on the relationship between guitar and orchestra, performed with conviction and elan”.