Charles Avison (1709-1770) was born in Newcastle and can be considered the greatest English composer of his time of orchestral concertos. He wrote more than 50 works in the genre – the best known are his orchestra transcriptions of Scarlatti sonatas - as well as chamber music, accompanied keyboard sonatas and vocal compositions. The concertos in Op. 9 & 10 were his final two sets, both published in the last four years of his life.

The Opus 10 works are presented here as world premiere recordings. The score was only recently discovered with other Avison manuscripts. In addition, it is believed that this is the first time all of Opus 9 has been recorded and released in its entirety.

A recording of Avison’s Op. 6 concerti was released by Naxos and is played regularly by radio stations around the world, including Classic fM. The Divine Art release of Avison Concertos after Geminiani (DDA21210) is similarly also regularly played on air. The recent release of John Garth Cello Concertos (DDA25059) is one of Divine Art’s all-time best sellers.

Comprised of some of Europe's leading musicians and soloists, the Avison Ensemble performs works from the baroque and early classical periods. The Ensemble is unique in having its own composer, along with a substantial repertoire of his music, as yet unperformed in modern times. Miraculously they have added to this repertoire with the recent acquisition of two of Avison’s original workbooks, which contain many unpublished works by Avison and other 18th century composers.