Arion Baroque Orchestra

Arion Baroque Orchestra, founded in 1981, is a Canadian baroque orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, specializing in music of the 18th century performed on period instruments.

Arion Baroque Orchestra was founded in Montreal in 1981 (first under the name of Arion Ensemble). Originally, it was a quartet whose members included flautist Claire Guimond, violinist Chantal Rémillard, harpsichordist Hank Knox, and viola da gamba player Betsy MacMillan.

The ensemble's name comes from Greek mythology: Arion is a musician from antiquity who avoided drowning by charming a dolphin with his singing. It is also the name of a cantata by André Campra that was played at the first concert of the group.

Since the mid-1990s, the original quartet has expanded with the aim of developing into a baroque orchestra, and thus began to explore the repertoire from the 2nd half of the 18th century, most notably the music of Haydn and Mozart.

Guimond was the sole artistic director of the orchestra from 1981 to 2019. During the 2019–2020 season, she shared the artistic direction role with bassoonist Mathieu Lussier, who succeeded her in the following 2020/2021 season.

Arion Baroque Orchestra does not have a principal conductor and prefers to collaborate with invited soloists and leaders. Some of the collaborators Arion has shared the stage with over the years are sopranos Suzie LeBlanc and Karina Gauvin, recorder player Vincent Lauzer, violinists Stefano Montanari, Enrico Onofri, and Monica Huggett, cellist Jaap ter Linden, harpsichordists Christophe Rousset, Garry Cooper, and Alexander Weimann, flautist Barthold Kuijken, and clarinettist Lorenzo Coppola.

Arion Baroque Orchestra has toured Québec, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and Europe.

Arion has a residency at Bourgie Hall of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it has an annual subscription series of five programs. The orchestra also performs at other venues in Montreal, most notably through the Conseil des arts de Montréal touring program, but also at the main music festivals across Quebec and Canada such as Domaine Forget, the Montreal Bach Festival, the Ottawa Chamberfest, and the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in New Brunswick.