The Orchester "La Scintilla"

The cultivation of the historical performance practice has been a tradition at the Opera House Zurich since the performance of the Monteverdi Cycle in the seventies. During the following series of Mozart operas, which were directed by Harnoncourt and Ponnelle, further pioneering work was accomplished and the musicians altered their playing techniques according to the latest research on historical performance practices.

In 1996 an independent ensemble was formed by first-class specialized musicians of the Zurich Opera Orchestra and soon obtained an excellent reputation.

The spark that ignited the enthusiasm for new “old music” gave its name to the ensemble: "La Scintilla" – The Spark.

Performances with eminent authorities in the field such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Mark Minkowski, Reinhard Goebel and Giuliano Carmignola were so successful that the Opera House Zürich had and still has this ensemble perform all baroque operas and nearly all operas of the classical period.

"La Scintilla" gives concerts with well-known soloists, instrumentalists and singers and performs regularly in the large concert halls. In autumn 2005 “La Scintilla” accompanied the extremely successful musician Cecilia Bartoli on a tour in North America and Europe during several weeks.