The orchestra l’arte del mondo, founded in 2004 by its artistic director Werner Ehrhardt, sees itself in the tradition of so-called early music on historical instruments, but is also dedicated to modern instruments and a repertoire that extends to contemporary music.

A trademark of l’arte del mondo is its innovative programmes, e.g. musical-intercultural projects with the Turkish Pera Ensemble or artists from the Peking Opera. With Daniel Hope and The Four Seasons Recomposed, Max Richter’s sensational new interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, l’arte del mondo has performed all over the world. Another highlight in 2017 was the sensationally danced St Matthew Passion-2727 with the Israeli Kamea Dance Company, which was performed in both Germany and Israel. In addition, l’arte del mondo regularly works with soloists such as Vesselina Kasarova, Daniel Müller-Schott, Dorothee Oberlinger, Nils Mönkemeyer and Xavier de Maistre.

In recent years, l’arte del mondo has performed at venues including the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Dubai Opera, the Winterthur Theatre, Munich’s Herkulessaal, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Montréal Baroque Festival, the Potsdam Sanssouci Music Festival, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, the Beethovenfest Bonn and on a tour of South America with Avi Avital. In autumn 2019, the ensemble presented the world’s first complete performance (semi-staged) of the opera Scherz, List und Rache by C.P. Kayser based on a libretto by J.W. von Goethe alongside Mozart’s Magic Flute. In autumn 2021, l’arte del mondo staged the scenic production of this opera at the Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt (director: Igor Folwill). In 2022, the ensemble went on a nationwide tour with the large-scale production “Matthäus-Passion-2727” with orchestra, choir and the Kamea Dance Company from Israel. The ensemble presented the opera production “L’Isola d’Alcina“ by Giuseppe Gazzaniga at the Schwetzingen Festival.

The 40 or so award-winning recordings by l’arte del mondo currently include the aforementioned opera Scherz, List und Rache by Kayser/Goethe (Sony/dhm 2020), the premiere recording of Salieri’s opera La Fiera di Venezia (Sony/dhm 2019) and Bach’s oboe concertos with Céline Moinet (Berlin Classics 2019). In 2021, a joint album with violist Nils Mönkemeyer was released on Sony Classical. In 2023, Sony/dhm released the world premiere recordings of symphonies by Joseph Aloys Schmittbaur, as well as the opera by Giuseppe Gazzaniga “L’isola d’Alcina“.

l’arte del mondo is a permanent orchestra in residence at Bayer Kultur and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and Neustart Kultur.