The Academy of Ancient Music has announced its 40th anniversary season in 2013-14, looking back over four decades of music making since its first recording under founder Christopher Hogwood in September 1973. Led by music director Richard Egarr, the period ensemble will present its first London season exclusively at the Barbican, with large-scale performances in the Barbican Hall and five concerts at the Guildhall School’s new Milton Court Concert Hall, plus its usual series of concerts in Cambridge.

The season opens with a performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo starring John Mark Ainsley and Sophie Bevan - the beginning of a three-year cycle of Monteverdi operas. Further highlights of 2013-14 include performances of Haydn and Mozart directed by violinist Alina Ibragimova; a celebration of the golden age of Baroque music with soprano Anna Prohaska; counter-tenor Andreas Scholl singing Pergolesi and Vivaldi; a concert of Vivaldi and Bach inspired by the Dresden Orchestra directed by violinist Richard Tognetti; vocal works of Haydn and Mozart featuring Angelika Kirchschlager; and Richard Egarr directing the final symphonies of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven to close the season.

The ensemble will also complete a six-date tour of Australia, and will perform in Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, Warsaw and Birmingham. A number of pre-concert talks will feature Alina Ibragimova and Tom Service, Richard Egarr, Richard Tognetti and Sara Mohr Pietsch, and Sir Nicholas Kenyon. The Academy’s AAMplify new generation scheme will in addition be open to international audiences for the first time, with masterclasses throughout Australia in November 2013.

For full details of the 2013-14 season, visit the Academy of Ancient Music.