Family life in Sweden, and a significant career-shift from violin playing to conducting (he is now Principal Conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra) have led to Manze’s decision.
In accepting his first orchestral directorship, Bicket said “I am thrilled to be joining The English Concert, an orchestra whose playing I have admired for many years, and I look forward to building on the extraordinary legacy of Trevor Pinnock and Andrew Manze.”

Full details of Bicket’s first season are not yet being made public, but he will direct the orchestra in a programme featuring Haydn’s Symphonies 6, 7 and 8 in February 2007, and start the 2007–8 season with a programme of Haydn and Mozart symphonies at the Cadogan Hall. Like Trevor Pinnock, Bicket is a noted keyboard player, so it is likely that he will be directing from the keyboard for many English Concert projects.

In the nearer future, The English Concert will be at Westminster Abbey, under the direction of Andrew Manze, to perform Bach’s Ouverture (Suite) No. 4 and Christmas Oratorio on 7 December 2006.