Richard Egarr

Associate Artist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra 2011–2017, Egarr conducted many symphony orchestras such as London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia Orchestra, and guested with leading baroque ensembles such as Philharmonia Baroque and the Handel & Haydn Society. He regularly gives solo harpsichord recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall.

In 2019/20 Egarr conducts Elgar, Mendelssohn and Beethoven in The Hague; Schumann’s 2nd Symphony in Tokyo’s Kioi Hall; Rossini and Mozart with the Luxembourg Philharmonic; Berlioz with the Orquesta da Galicia; and Schubert in St Paul. Not neglecting the baroque repertoire, he leads the City of Birmingham Symphony through their first Handel Messiah in many years, conducts Bach St. Matthew Passion in Antwerp, debuts in St Louis with a Handel/Bach programme, and joins the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale for an all-Bach programme in his first concerts since being announced future Music Director. Plans with the AAM this season include the first performance for over 100 years of the Mass by Beethoven’s Czech contemporary, Jan Ladislav Dussek.

Early in his tenure with AAM, Egarr established the Choir of the AAM; operas and particularly Handel’s oratorios lie at the heart of his repertoire. He made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007 conducting a staged version of St Matthew Passion. With AAM at the Barbican he has conducted Monteverdi and Purcell cycles, Mozart's La finta giardiniera and (in 2019) Le nozze di Figaro – the latter also at the The Grange Festival. He has conducted productions of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, La clemenza di Tito and Rossini’s Il signor Bruschino with the Netherlands Opera Academy; he taught for several years at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and is currently Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School.

Egarr's extensive discography on Harmonia Mundi includes solo keyboard works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Couperin, and latterly discs for Linn Records of Byrd and Sweelinck, which is due for imminent release. His long list of recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music includes seven Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards), and Bach St. John and St. Matthew Passions on the AAM's own label. He features as director on the recording of Handel Brockes-Passion, released this autumn in a new edition of the music for which he was an integral contributor.

Egarr trained as a choirboy at York Minster, and then 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

Richard Egarr is represented by Intermusica.
2019/20 season / 518 words. Not to be altered without permission.