The English Concert was founded by Trevor Pinnock in 1973 and is among the world’s leading early music ensembles. Under Andrew Manze’s direction, the orchestra has added annual appearances in the USA to its worldwide touring schedule and is expanding its recording plans with harmonia mundi usa.

With a voice described by International Record Review as "one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation" Elizabeth Watts has established herself as "one of the brightest new talents" (The Independent). Her debut recording of Schubert Lieder for  SONY Red Seal, a Gramophone magazine’s ‘Editor's Choice’, was hailed for its "milky timbre & interpretative maturity" (FT) "technical mastery" (Gramophone) and "radiant delivery" (BBC Music).  She has also released a disc of Bach Cantatas for Harmonia Mundi and most recently a disc of Strauss Songs for Hyperion, both to critical acclaim. Forthcoming recordings include CPE Bach’s Magnificat and JS Bach’s St John Passion.
Elizabeth was a chorister at Norwich Cathedral and studied archaeology at Sheffield University, before attending the Royal College of Music. She was selected by YCAT in 2004, won the 2006 Kathleen Ferrier Prize, the 2007 Outstanding Young Artist Award at the Cannes "MIDEM Classique Awards" and gained international recognition at the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, winning the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize. From 2005- 2007 she was a member of English National Opera’s Young Singers Programme, where she appeared as Papagena Die Zauberflöte, Barbarina Figaro, Music and Hope in Monteverdi L’Orfeo and in Purcell King Arthur. She currently is an Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre, London and the recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.