Ninety Hyperion CD releases later, containing music from across more than 250 years, The King’s Consort is one of the world’s most recorded period-instrument orchestras, releasing a huge and colourful array of repertoire from the Baroque and Classical eras, selling more than a million discs and winning a vast array of international awards. TKC has given thousands of concerts in five continents of the world – in North and South America, the Far East, a toe-dip into Asia, in almost every European country and, of course, widely across the British Isles – performing in many of the greatest concert halls and festivals across the globe. TKC has staged operas as far apart as Paris and Tokyo, played before Kings, Queens, Presidents, Ambassadors and hundreds of thousands of music lovers, recorded for Hollywood and broadcast to millions on television and radio, always presenting works – both familiar and unfamiliar – with its vital, infectious performing style.

As TKC celebrates its 25th anniversary, we hope you will enjoy this wonderfully varied selection of its music (which opens with a thrilling ‘taster’ of delights to come in the autumn of 2005 with the fourth volume of Monteverdi’s sacred music).