La Petite Bande, a Belgian classical music ensemble, was founded in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken to record Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Lully. Named after an orchestra at the Court of Louis XIV, the group gained recognition for their performances and recordings of Baroque and classical music on period instruments. Their repertoire included works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, with notable releases such as Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (1980) and Corelli: Concerti Grossi Op. 6 (1995). In the 2000s, they focused on Bach's cantatas and passions, including J.S. Bach: Matthäus-Passion (2009) and Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos (2010). The ensemble has performed worldwide and received the Cultural Merit Award from the Flemish government in 2009. Despite funding challenges, La Petite Bande has remained active with a recording of Bach's Christmas cantatas in 2022.
