Richard Egarr

Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians around. He has worked with all types of keyboards, performing repertoire ranging from 15th century organ music to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as a conductor.

Richard Egarr enjoyed his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance.

As a conductor, Richard Egarr has presented a wide range of repertoire, from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to John Taverner’s Ikon of Light. He directs specialised ensembles and modern orchestras alike. In 2006, he succeeded Christopher Hogwood as Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music. Richard has directed many oratorios and operas, including Messiah, Esther, Acis & Galatea, Alcina, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, Athalia and Alexander’s Feast by Handel; Haydn’s The Creation, Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Dido & Aeneas, Telemann’s St Matthew Passion and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bach’s B minor Mass and St. Matthew Passion (also in a staged version at Glyndebourne). His guest conductings include collaborations with the Residentie Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Arnhem Gelders Orkest. Next season, Richard will conduct Mendelssohn’s Eliah with the Brussels Philharmonic, a programme dedicated to Stokowski with the Residentie Orchestra, a Bach programme with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and a classical programme with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Richard has given many solo performances throughout Europe, Japan and the USA (with Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Goldberg Variations). He has appeared as orchestral soloist with the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Orchestra of the 18th Century, the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. Richard has earned a great reputation as a chamber musician, also thanks to longstanding relationship with violinist Andrew Manze.

Richard Egarr records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA. His solo output comprises works by Frescobaldi, Gibbons, Couperin, Purcell, Froberger, Mozart and J.S. Bach (Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier Book I). He has an impressive list of award winning recordings with violinist Andrew Manze, including Sonatas from Bach, Biber, Rebel, Pandolfi, Corelli, Handel, Mozart and Schubert. With the Academy of Ancient Music he has recorded J.S. Bach’s harpsichord concertos and Brandenburg Concertos. In the Handel year 2009 they completed a 7 CD series of Handel discs including the instrumental music Op. 1, 2 and 5, the Concerti grossi Op. 3 (which won a Gramophone Award in 2007) and the Organ Concertos Op. 4 (MIDEM Award and Edison Award 2009) and Op. 7.

Photo © Marco Borggreve