Published: 27 June 2012
Category: Artists

Richard Egarr comes to the end of his European tour with the Academy of Ancient Music, conducting a triumphant Handel programme at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw on 3 July and at the Grafenegg Festival on 4 August.

Their performance of the same programme last month at Symphony Hall garnered critical acclaim:

"Particularly impressive were the string players, who used virtually no vibrato but sensitive bowing to produce notes that blossomed and wilted like flowers. Woodwinds, as expected, added pungent colour and edge (the contrabassoon, not folded over like its modern counterpart, looked and sounded suitably monstrous); and valveless horns and trumpets rasped, brayed and bubbled (in the trills) with barely a split note between them. There was also a sense of fun, notably in the two suites when allegros flew and crackled, and the players clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves. The anthems, too, showed a remarkable level of eloquent singing and playing and sounded wonderfully uplifting.”
(Birmingham Post)

In July Egarr will also sit on the jury of the prestigious William Kapell Piano Competition in Maryland, alongside colleagues such as Cecile Licad, Noriko Ogawa and Elisso Virsaladze. The finalists will play with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Egarr himself will play a fortepiano recital of Mozart, Haydn and Dussek as a special event during the competition.

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