Richard Egarr

In 2018/2019 Egarr conducted Bruckner’s “Nullte” and Beethoven Symphony No.5 with the Residentie Orkest, Schumann Symphony No.2 with the Utah Symphony, and Schubert 9 with the Handel and Haydn Society. He made his debut with the Cincinatti Symphony in Bach and Vivaldi, and returned to the Seattle Symphony and St Paul Chamber for Handel and Purcell, also the Kioi Sinfonietta (Tokyo) for Bach and Vivaldi, the Scottish Chamber for more Handel and the Seoul Philharmonic for Mozart. He played solo harpsichord recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Spring Festival and at the Madrid Auditori. Season highlights with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican Centre included Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (staged) and Handel’s rarely-performed Brockes Passion, also his first collaboration with the Grange Festival (staged Nozze di Figaro). This Summer Egarr conducts Handel’s Jeptha with the Scottish Chamber at the BBC Proms, and features in two concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival directing and playing JS Bach concerti for two, three and four keyboards.

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. He has directed Mozart’s La Finta Giardinera, a Monteverdi cycle and Purcell operas with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Barbican, and staged productions of La clemenza di Tito, Le nozze di Figaro and Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino at the Netherlands Opera Academy. He has a long-standing teaching position at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and is Visiting Professor at the Juilliard school.

Egarr’s extensive discography on Harmonia Mundi includes solo keyboard works by JS Bach, Handel, Mozart and Louis Couperin. His long list of recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music includes seven Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards), and JS Bach's St John and Matthew Passions on the AAM's own label. His latest recital disc of Byrd and Sweelinck appeared in May 2018 on Linn Records, who have also released his performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore live from the 2015 Edinburgh International Festival.

Egarr trained 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

2018/19 season, updated May 2019 / 567 words. Not to be altered without permission.