Musicians who play the

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

are known as

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

s. This list includes post 19th-century harpsichordists. Notable earlier harpsichordists mostly appear on the

list of Baroque composers Composers of the Baroque era, ordered by date of birth: Transition from Renaissance to Baroque (born 1500–49) Composers in the Renaissance/Baroque transitional era include the following (listed by their date of birth): * Philippe de Monte (15 ...

A

* Abraham Abreu *

Isolde Ahlgrimm Isolde Ahlgrimm (31 July 1914 in Vienna – 11 October 1995 in Vienna) was an Austrian harpsichordist and fortepianist. In 1975 she was awarded the Austrian Gold Medal. Musical education Ahlgrimm pursued her early piano studies from 1922 at ...

Rinaldo Alessandrini Rinaldo Alessandrini (born 25 January 1960) is a virtuoso on Baroque keyboards, including harpsichord, fortepiano, and organ. He is founder and conductor of the Italian early music ensemble Concerto Italiano, performing music of Monteverdi, Vivaldi ...

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

Bob van Asperen Bob van Asperen (born 8 October 1947, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch harpsichordist and early keyboard instrument performer, as well as a conductor. He graduated in 1971 from the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he studied the harpsichord with Gustav Leonh ...

Emilie Autumn Emilie Autumn Liddell (born September 22, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, author and violinist. Autumn's musical style is described by her as "Fairy Pop", "Fantasy Rock" or "Victoriandustrial". It is influenced by glam rock and ...

Valda Aveling Valda Rose Aveling OBE (16 May 192021 November 2007) was an Australian pianist, harpsichordist and clavichordist. Her repertoire was very wide, including composers as diverse as William Byrd, Jan Sweelinck, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Béla ...

B

Enrico Baiano Enrico Baiano (Naples, 1960) is an Italian harpsichordist and fortepianist, known on the international stage as a virtuoso and strict interpreter of early music. Baiano has earned a number of international awards including the Deutsche Schallplat ...

Ivor Bolton Ivor Bolton Ivor Bolton (born 17 May 1958) is an English conductor and harpsichordist. Early life and education Bolton was born in Blackrod, Greater Manchester, England. He studied at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and Clare Col ...

* Michael Borgstede *

Hendrik Bouman Hendrik "Henk" Bouman (born 29 September 1951, in Dordrecht)David Cummings, International Who's Who In Music And Musicians' Directory 1994/5, page 92 is a Dutch harpsichordist, fortepianist, conductor and composer of music written in the baroqu ...

Bradley Brookshire Bradley Brookshire (born 1959) is an American-born harpsichordist. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan School of Music (in Music History and Musicology), his Master of Music from Mannes College in New York City (Histo ...

C

* Nellie Chaplin *

Elisabeth Chojnacka Elisabeth Chojnacka (born Elżbieta Ukraińczyk; 10 September 1939 – 28 May 2017) was a Polish harpsichordist living in France. She was one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord mus ...

* William Christie *

Grant Colburn Grant Colburn (born in Wisconsin in 1966) is an American composer, pianist and harpsichordist. He studied harpsichord with Igor Kipnis and composition with Irwin Sonenfield. He is the author of six published collections of neo-baroque and neo-rena ...

Elaine Comparone Elaine Comparone is an American harpsichordist. Born in 1943, in Lawrence Massachusetts, she is known for playing in a standing position before a specially adapted Dowd instrument. Background Born into a family of musicians in Lawrence, Massac ...

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

Mónica Cosachov Monica Cosachov (born 7 September 1946) is an Argentine harpsichordist, pianist and composer. She also serves as a visiting professor at universities and research centers internationally. Background Cosachov was born in Buenos Aires and studied c ...

Alan Cuckston Alan George Cuckston (born 1940, Horsforth, Leeds, England) is an English harpsichordist, pianist, conductor, and lecturer. Alan Cuckston was born near Leeds and studied music with Fanny Waterman and Lamar Crowson and at King's College, Cambridge ...

Laurence Cummings Laurence Cummings (born 1968, Birmingham) is a British harpsichordist, organist, and conductor. He is currently music director of the Academy of Ancient Music. Biography Cummings was educated at Solihull School, Christ Church, Oxford and th ...

* Alan Curtis

D

Ottavio Dantone Ottavio Dantone (born 9 October 1960) is an Italian conductor and keyboardist (primarily harpsichord and fortepiano) particularly noted for his performances of Baroque music. He has been the music director of the Accademia Bizantina in Ravenna sin ...

Thurston Dart Robert Thurston ("Bob") Dart (3 September 1921 – 6 March 1971), was an English musicologist, conductor and keyboard player. Along with Nigel Fortune, Oliver Neighbour and Stanley Sadie he was one of Britain's leading musicologists of the post- ...

Fernando De Luca Fernando De Luca (born 1961 in Rome) is an Italian harpsichordist, teacher and composer. He studied harpsichord with Paola Bernardi. He is known to some people for his efforts to perform and record, for the first time, the Handel's Complete H ...

Huguette Dreyfus Pauline Huguette Dreyfus (30 November 1928 – 16 May 2016) was a French harpsichordist. Biography Dreyfus was born in Mulhouse, Alsace, France, on 30 November 1928 to Fernand and Marguerite Dreyfus. The doctor incorrectly wrote Pauline Hugu ...

E

Richard Egarr Richard Egarr (born 7 August 1963) is a British conductor and keyboard player. Biography Born in Lincoln, Egarr received his early musical training as a choirboy at York Minster and at Chetham's School of Music. He was an organ scholar at Clare ...

Mahan Esfahani Mahan Esfahani ( fa, ماهان اصفهانی) (born 1984 in Tehran) is an Iranian-American harpsichordist. Education Esfahani received his first guidance on the piano from his father before exploring an interest in the harpsichord as a teenag ...

F

* Albert Fuller

G

Anne Gallet Anne Gallet is a Swiss harpsichordist and musicologist. Gallet was born in Geneva. At the age of 20 she won the first prize for virtuosity at the Conservatoire de Genève in the class of Isabelle Nef. Subsequently, she studied at the University of ...

Martin Galling Martin Galling (born 1935 in Halle (Saale)) is a German pianist, harpsichordist and chamber musician. Galling first took cello lessons and studied the piano from 1945 at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory of Mainz with Louise Wandel. He studied at ...

Lorenzo Ghielmi Lorenzo Ghielmi (born in Milan on 1 September 1959) is an Italian organist and harpsichordist. He teaches old music at the ''Accademia Internazionale della Musica'' in Milan and at the "Schola Cantorum Basiliensis" in Basel. He was professor in Tr ...

Kenneth Gilbert Kenneth Albert Gilbert (December 16, 1931 – April 15, 2020) was a Canadian harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and music educator. Biography Born in Montreal, Gilbert studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal under ...

Lillian Gordis Lillian Gordis, born on July 12, 1992, in Berkeley, California, is an American-born harpsichordist who moved to France when she was 16. Biography Lillian Gordis began studying the harpsichord at age 9 with Katherine Roberts Perl and then Arthur ...

H

* Malcolm Hamilton *

Pierre Hantaï Pierre Hantaï (born 28 February 1964, Paris) is a French harpsichordist and conductor. Career The son of painter Simon Hantaï, he discovered the music of Johann Sebastian Bach when he was ten and first heard Gustav Leonhardt's recordings w ...

Barbara Harbach Barbara Harbach (born February 14, 1946) is a composer, harpsichordist, organist and teacher. Since 2004, she taught music at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She founded ''Women in the Arts-St. Louis'' to highlight women's work and gain ...

Ketil Haugsand Ketil Are Haugsand (born 13 June 1947, Oslo, Norway) is a Norwegian harpsichordist and conductor. Biography Haugsand started his musical studies in Trondheim and Oslo, and later studied in Prague and Haarlem. In 1973, he earned his solo diplom ...

Anton Heiller Anton Heiller (15 September 1923 – 25 March 1979) was an Austrian organist, harpsichordist, composer and conductor. Biography Born in Vienna, he was first trained in church music by Wilhelm Mück, organist of Vienna's Stephansdom (St. Stephen' ...

* Robert Hill *

Asako Hirabayashi Asako Hirabayashi (born 1960) is a Japanese-American contemporary composer and harpsichordist. Early life and training Hirabayashi was born in Japan and began composing and playing piano at age 7. She graduated from college in Japan as a compo ...

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically info ...

J

Eileen Joyce Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years. Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...

K

* Rudolf Kelber *

Ralph Kirkpatrick Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick (; June 10, 1911April 13, 1984) was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings. Life ...

Igor Kipnis Igor Kipnis (September 27, 1930January 23, 2002) was a German-born American harpsichordist, pianist and conductor. Biography The son of Metropolitan Opera bass Alexander Kipnis, he was born in Berlin, where his father was singing with the Berlin S ...

Ton Koopman Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orches ...

Nicholas Kraemer Nicholas Kraemer (born 7 March 1945, in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British harpsichordist and conductor. Career Kraemer began his career as a harpsichordist. From playing continuo (on a harpsichord) at the back of an orchestra he proceeded to ...

L

* Marcelle de Lacour *

Wanda Landowska Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in t ...

Cosimo Damiano Lanza Cosimo Damiano Lanza (born 12 April 1962) is an Italian pianist, harpsichordist and composer. Biography Born in Leporano, Southern Italy, his artistic training was developed under the leadership of distinguished teachers, for the piano Michele ...

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

Raymond Leppard Raymond John Leppard (11 August 1927 – 22 October 2019) was a British-American conductor, harpsichordist, composer and editor. In the 1960s, he played a prime role in the rebirth of interest in Baroque music; in particular, he was one of the ...

Christiana Lin Christiana Lin (born in Taipei) is a Chinese-Austrian pianist and harpsichordist. Since 1994 she has been a Steinway & Sons#Steinway Artists, Steinway Artist. From 1978 to 1992, she studied in Vienna, Innsbruck and Munich and was conferred the ' ...

Giedrė Lukšaitė-Mrázková Giedrė Lukšaitė-Mrázková (born 1944) is a Lithuanian–Czechs, Czech harpsichordist and organist. Lukšaitė was born to the family of educator and cultural historian Meilė Lukšienė in Kaunas, Lithuania. She studied organ (music), organ ...

M

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

Nicholas McGegan James Nicholas McGegan OBE (born 14 January 1950 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England) is a British harpsichordist, flutist, conductor and early music expert. Biography McGegan received his early education at Nottingham High School. He subs ...

* George Malcolm * Alessandro De Marchi *

Sylvia Marlowe Sylvia Sapira (September 26, 1908 in New York City – December 11, 1981) was an American harpsichordist who performed and recorded under the name Sylvia Marlowe. She performed both the Baroque repertoire as well as contemporary compositions by com ...

* Mitzi Meyerson * Patrick Montan * Domenico Morgante *

Davitt Moroney Davitt Moroney (born 23 December 1950) is a British-born and educated musicologist, harpsichordist and organist. His parents were of Irish and Italian extraction – his father was an executive with the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate. ...

Lars Ulrik Mortensen Lars Ulrik Mortensen (born 1955) is a Danish harpsichordist and conductor, mainly of Baroque solo music, chamber music and early music repertory. He was a professor in Munich in 1996–99 and has since then been artistic director of Concerto Cop ...

Oscar Milani oscR miLanI (born November 24, 1946 in Rosario, Argentina), is an Argentine musician. A Bariloche Foundation scholarship holder, he went to Buenos Aires to specialize; harpsichord, chamber music, and interpretation on early keyboard instruments ...

N

Nikolaus Newerkla Nikolaus Philipp Newerkla (; born 1974 in Horn, Austria) is a harpsichordist, arranger and conductor. He began his musical career by studying piano at the University of Music in Graz under Eike Straub. Inspired by his long-standing teacher, the or ...

* Anthony Newman *

Hervé Niquet Hervé Niquet (born 28 October 1957) is a French conductor, harpsichordist, tenor, and the director of Le Concert Spirituel, specializing in French Baroque music. Biography Born on 28 October 1957, Hervé Niquet was raised at Abbeville in the ...

P

Temple Painter Temple Painter (June 14, 1933 – August 6, 2016) was an American harpsichordist and organist. He was born in 1933 in Pulaski, Virginia. Temple Painter performed as solo organist with members of the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center under H ...

* Joseph Payne *

Martin Pearlman Martin Pearlman (born May 21, 1945 in Chicago) is an American conductor, harpsichordist, composer, and early music specialist. He founded the first permanent Baroque orchestra in North America with Boston Baroque (originally called Banchetto Music ...

Yella Pessl Yella Pessl (originally Gabriella Elsa Pessl; January 5, 1906 – December 9, 1991
Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved February 27, 2019.

Daniel Pinkham Daniel Rogers Pinkham Jr. (June 5, 1923 – December 18, 2006) was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Early life and education Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, into a prominent family engaged in the manufacture of patent medicines ( ...

Trevor Pinnock Trevor David Pinnock (born 16 December 1946 in Canterbury, England) is a British harpsichordist and conductor. He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert, which he helped found and directe ...

Rafael Puyana Rafael Antonio Lázaro Puyana Michelsen (14 October 19311 March 2013) was a Colombian harpsichordist. Puyana was born in Bogotá in 1931, and began piano lessons at age 6 with his aunt and at age 13 made his debut at the Teatro Colón in Bogot ...

R

Mario Raskin Mario Raskin (born 1952) is an Argentine harpsichordist. He was born in Buenos Aires and lives in Paris, France. Background Raskin was born in Buenos Aires, and studied music at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires. He developed an inter ...

* Karl Richter *

Jean Rondeau : Jean Rondeau (13 May 1946 in Le Mans, France – 27 December 1985 in Champagné, France) was a French race car driver and constructor, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1980, in a car bearing his own name, an achievement which remains unique ...

Scott Ross Scott Ross may refer to: * Scott Ross (film executive) (born 1951), Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Digital Domain (1993–2006); pioneer in digital entertainment * Scott Ross, interviewer for ''The 700 Club'' with ties to various 1960s and 1970s roc ...

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 18 ...

* Gilbert Rowland *

Zuzana Růžičková Zuzana Růžičková () (14 January 1927 – 27 September 2017) was a Czech harpsichordist. An interpreter of classical and baroque music, Růžičková was the first harpsichordist to record Johann Sebastian Bach's complete works for keyboard, ...

S

Byron Schenkman Byron Schenkman (born 1966) is an American harpsichordist, pianist, music director, and educator. Schenkman has recorded over 40 CDs and has won several awards and accolades. He co-founded the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and was its artistic direc ...

János Sebestyén János Sebestyén (2 March 19314 February 2012) was a Hungarian organist, harpsichordist, pianist and journalist. Biography János Sebestyén was born in Budapest, where both of his parents were prominent musicians and educators. His father, S ...

* Liselotte Selbiger * Skip Sempé *

Luciano Sgrizzi Luciano Sgrizzi (30 October 1910 – 11 September 1994) was an Italian harpsichordist, organist, pianist and composer. Life and career Luciano Sgrizzi was born in Bologna, from whose Philharmonic Academy he graduated as a pianist in 1923. He to ...

Millicent Silver Millicent Irene Silver (17 November 19051 May 1986) was an English harpsichordist, who began her career as a pianist and violinist. Early life Born in South London, her father, James Brand Silver, was a violinist and oboist, and had been a b ...

Heather Slade-Lipkin Heather Slade-Lipkin (9 March 1947 – 16 October 2017) was an English pianist, harpsichordist and teacher. Biography Slade-Lipkin was born into a musical family from Hoylake, Wirral. She began formal piano lessons before the age of six and ma ...

Andreas Staier Andreas Staier (born 13 September 1955 in Göttingen) is a German pianist and harpsichordist. Life Staier studied piano and harpsichord in the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover and Amsterdam. He studied piano with Kurt Bauer and Erika Haase, an ...

Masaaki Suzuki is a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for whi ...

Simone Stella Simone Stella (born 1981 in Florence, Italy) is an Italian harpsichordist, organist, composer and producer. Biography He studied piano in Florence with Rosanita Racugno and Marco Vavolo, organ in Florence with Mariella Mochi and Alessandro A ...

T

Colin Tilney Colin Tilney (born 31 October 1933) is a harpsichordist, fortepianist and teacher. Education and professional life Born in London, Tilney studied music and modern languages at Cambridge University, studied harpsichord with Mary Potts at King's C ...

Yann Tiersen Yann Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical and c ...

Rosalyn Tureck Rosalyn Tureck (December 14, 1913 – July 17, 2003) was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. However, she had a wide-ranging repertoire that included works by composers ...

V

Fernando Valenti Fernando Valenti (New York, New York, 4 December 1926 - Red Bank, New Jersey, 6 September 1990) was an American harpsichordist. After studying with José Iturbi and Ralph Kirkpatrick and débuting in 1950, he recorded extensively, especially in th ...

Jos Van Immerseel Jos Van Immerseel (born 9 November 1945) is a Belgian harpsichordist, pianist and conductor. Van Immerseel studied organ, piano and harpsichord at the Antwerp Conservatory under Flor Peeters, Eugène Traey and harpsichordist and musicolo ...

* Blandine Verlet *

Robert Veyron-Lacroix Robert Veyron-Lacroix (13 December 1922 in Paris – 2 April 1991 in Garches (Hauts-de-Seine)) was a French harpsichordist and pianistPâris, Alain. Robert Veyron-Lacroix. In: ''Dictionnaire des interprètes''. Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, ...

Jory Vinikour Jory Vinikour (born May 12, 1963 in Chicago) is an American born harpsichordist. He has been living in Paris since 1990, where he studied on a scholarship from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program with Huguette Dreyfus and Kenneth Gilbert. Vinikour ...

W

Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German baroque masters. Blind since his teenage years, he is known f ...

Peter Watchorn Peter Watchorn (born 30 May 1957) is an Australian-born harpsichordist who has combined a virtuosic keyboard technique, musical scholarship and practical experience in the construction of harpsichords copied from original instruments of the 17th ...

Guy Whatley Guy Richard Whatley (born 1975) is an American organist and harpsichordist. He is a specialist in medieval keyboards, sixteenth and seventieth century European music, and nineteenth century German organ music. He is widely known as a continuo play ...

Blanche Winogron Blanche Winogron (May 8, 1911 – November 22, 2002) was an American harpsichordist, pianist, virginalist, and teacher. She taught at the Mannes College of Music from 1961 to 1969, and the New England Conservatory of Music from 1968 to 1977. Her st ...

* Ernst Victor Wolff *

Violet Gordon-Woodhouse Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (23 April 18729 January 1948) was a British keyboard player. She specialised in the harpsichord and clavichord, and was influential in bringing both instruments back into fashion. She was the first person to record the ha ...

{{Div col end

Harpsichordists Musicians who play the harpsichord are known as harpsichordists. This list includes post 19th-century harpsichordists. Notable earlier harpsichordists mostly appear on the list of Baroque composers. A * Abraham Abreu * Isolde Ahlgrimm * Rinald ...