The English Baroque Soloists has established itself among the world's leading period instrument orchestras. Founder and artistic director John Eliot Gardiner regularly joins his English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir in opera and choral performances. The EBS has a repertoire that takes in music from the Classical period as well as the Baroque. Together, the groups launched the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, performing all of Bach's sacred cantatas throughout Europe. The EBS has toured widely and has been heard on over 100 recordings. In 2021, the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir, under Gardiner, issued a recording of Handel's Semele.