Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians around. He has worked with all types of keyboards and performed repertoire ranging from fifteenth-century organ intabulations to Dussek and Chopin on early pianos, to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician, as well as a conductor.

Richard Egarr enjoyed his musical training as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and as organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. His study with Gustav Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance.

As a conductor, Richard Egarr has presented a wide range of repertoire, from Bach’s Matthew Passion to John Taverner’s Ikon of Light. He has worked with specialised ensembles and modern orchestras alike, such as Tafelmusik Toronto, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra. He is director of the Amsterdam-based Academy of the Begijnhof. Recent productions include Handel’s Esther, Acis & Galatea, Alcina and L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, many performances of the Messiah, and dramatic Handel Opera arias with soprano Emma Bell and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Haydn’s The Creation, Purcell’s Fairy Queen, Bach’s B minor Mass and Telemann’s St Matthew Passion, and Stokowski arrangements with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Richard will be directing Bach’s St Matthew Passion in 2007 with the Dutch Bach Society, and, in a staged version, at Glyndebourne. He will also conduct the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Flemish Radio Symphony Orchestra (in Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique). In April 2006 he was appointed as Christopher Hogwood’s successor as Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, with effect from the 2006–2007 season.

As soloist, Richard has performed extensively in the major music festivals throughout Europe and Japan; his 2006 solo tour in the USA with Bach’s Goldberg Variations received great critical acclaim. He has appeared many times as orchestral soloist with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, with the Orchestra of the 18th Century as well as with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble.

In chamber music, Richard forms an ‘unequalled duo for violin and keyboard’ (Gramophone) with violinist Andrew Manze. They have toured Europe and North-America with music from the Stylus Phantasticus and late baroque. They have recently turned to later repertoire with performances of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Hubert Parry.

Richard Egarr records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA. His solo discs include works by Frescobaldi, Gibbons, Couperin, Purcell, J.S. Bach and the complete recording of the keyboard works of Johann Jakob Froberger. Recent recordings include Per Cembalo Solo (Gramophone Editor’s Choice) and Bach’s Goldberg Variations. He has made numerous recordings with Andrew Manze, of violin sonatas by Rebel, Pandolfi (Gramophone Award), Handel (nominated for a Grammy Award), Bach, Corelli (Prix Caecilia), Biber’s Rosary Sonatas (Edison Award) and Mozart’s Auernhammer Sonatas. With the Academy of Ancient Music he recorded the complete Bach harpsichord concertos. Upcoming issues include solo keyboard music by Mozart and Louis Couperin, Bach’s Wohltemperierte Clavier Book I, and (with the Academy of Ancient Music) Handel’s Concerti Grossi Op.3 and the Organ Concerti Op.4 and 7.