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 The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

and at

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education alon ...

. He was an

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

and studied at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. Study with

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 ...

further inspired his work in the field of

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

. Egarr is widely known as a specialist in the baroque repertoire, but has performed repertoire over a wide historical era, from fifteenth-century organ

intabulation Intabulation, from the Italian word ''intavolatura'', refers to an arrangement of a vocal or ensemble piece for keyboard, lute, or other plucked string instrument, written in tablature. History Intabulation was a common practice in 14th–16th c ...

s to

Dussek Jan Ladislav Dussek (baptized Jan Václav Dusík, Černušák, p. 271 with surname also written as Duschek or Düssek; 12 February 176020 March 1812) was a Czech classical composer and pianist. He was an important representative of Czech music ...

and Chopin on early pianos, to

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer Former states *Berg (state), county and duchy of the Holy ...

and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He has recorded commercially several albums of solo keyboard music for such labels as

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

, as well as chamber repertoire for such labels as Hyperion. In 2006, Egarr became music director of the

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

(AAM). With the AAM, Egarr has made commercial recordings for such labels as Harmonia Mundi, and the AAM's own label. He is scheduled to conclude his tenure as AAM music director at the close of the 2020-2021 season. Egarr made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007 with a staged version of Bach's ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

''. In 2012, Egarr first guest-conducted the

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is an American orchestra based in San Francisco. PBO is dedicated to historically informed performance of Baroque, Classical and early Romantic music on original instruments. The orchestra performs its su ...

(PBO). Following two additional guest appearances with the PBO, the PBO announced, in January 2019, the appointment of Egarr as its next music director, with an initial contract of 5 years. The original intention was for Egarr to serve as PBO music director-designate for the 2020-2021 season, and then to take the title of music director with the 2021-2022 season. In the wake of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the PBO reconfigured its 2020-2021 season into a virtual season, and announced the advent of Egarr as its music director effective 1 July 2020, one season earlier than originally planned. Egarr and his family reside in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, Egarr has served as director of the Academy of the Begijnhof. Since 2019, he is Principal Guest Conductor of the

Residentie Orchestra Het Residentie Orkest (literal translation, ''The Residence Orchestra''; known also in English as ''Residentie Orkest The Hague'') is a Dutch orchestra based in The Hague. The orchestra is currently resident at the Amare performing arts centre in T ...

in The Hague.

References

External links

Academy of Ancient Music page on Richard Egarr

Harmonia Mundi website, biography of Richard Egarr

Intermusica agency page on Richard Egarr

Interview with Richard Egarr on The Next Track podcast

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egarr, Richard English classical organists British male organists British harpsichordists English classical pianists Male classical pianists English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 1963 births Living people Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British performers of early music Bach conductors Bach musicians 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century organists Male classical organists