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Frans Brüggen - once the world's most famous recorder player, today he is considered among the foremost experts in the performance of eighteenth century music. He was born in Amsterdam and studied musicology at the university there. At 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and later held posts of Erasmus Professor at the Harvard University and Regents Professor at the University of Berkeley. Yet, as Luciano Berio wrote, he is "a musician who is not an archeologist but a great artist".

In 1981, he founded the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, which comprises some sixty members from 19 different countries. Three times a year the orchestra assembles to go on tour. The musicians, who are all specialists in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century music, play on period instruments, or on contemporary copies. The wide-ranging repertoire this orchestra has recorded for Philips Classics includes works by Purcell, Bach, Rameau, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert & Mendelssohn. Many of their recordings have received international awards.

Frans Brüggen's conducting activities in recent seasons have included collaborations with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Hamburg Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zürich, the Stockholm Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra.

In August 1991, Brüggen made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and his return visits to the Festival included a highly praised series of concerts with the Mozarteum Orchestra.

In October 1992 Frans Brüggen became the joint principal guest conductor, together with Simon Rattle of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with whom he has recorded works by Bach and Haydn for Philips Classics.

Since the  1998/99 season, he has served as  joint principle guest conductor, together with Christoph von Dohnànyi, of the Orchestre de Paris.

Recent operatic engagements have included Mozart's Mitridate, Re di Ponte in Zürich and Gluck's Orfeo with the Opéra de Lyon.

Frans Brüggen carries on extensive touring and recording work with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.