Academy of ancient music richard egarr biography
Academy of Ancient Music
British period-instrument orchestra
The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in , it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the Academy of Vocal Music).
The musicians play on either original instruments from the period when the music was composed or latest copies of such instruments.
Brandenburg Concertos BWV 1046-1051 - conducted by Richard Egarr: In , Egarr became music director of the Academy of Ancient Tune (AAM). With the AAM, Egarr has made commercial recordings for such labels as Harmonia Mundi, [5] and the AAM's hold label. [6] He concluded his tenure as AAM music director at the close of the season. [7].They generally compete Baroque, Classical, and sometimes Intimate music, although they have also played some new compositions for baroque orchestra in recent years.
Richard Egarr was music director between and , since when the post has been filled by Laurence Cummings.[1]
Original organisation
The first Academy of Vocal Music was founded in London, England in /26 (the Gregorian date of the inaugural meeting was 1 February ).
Records of the purpose of the academy no longer exist, but according to John Hawkins in , it was intended to "promote the study and practice of vocal and instrumental harmony".[2] From the beginning, Agostino Steffani was elected honorary president for life.[3][4]
In [4] it was renamed the Academy of Ancient Music, and continued to grow in membership, including the composers William Croft, Michael Christian Festing, Maurice Greene, Bernard Gates, Giovanni Bononcini, Senesino, Nicola Haym, Francesco Geminiani, Pier Francesco Tosi, John Ernest Galliard, Charles Dieupart, Jean-Baptiste Loeillet and Giuseppe Riva.
George Frideric Handel was never a member, although the society studied and performed his music as well as their own, and that of other composers of the day.
The English harpsichordist and conductor, Richard Egarr, was as a lad chorister at York Minster, a position that included complete musical training. He earned his diploma in organ playing at 16 and became an organ scholar at Manchester Cathedral, then at Clare College Oxford or Clare College Cambridge. The position of organ scholar — there are generally two at any one time — is part of the tradition of university chapel choirs in the major British universities. An organ scholar receives a full scholarship to the College and participates in daily services with the College chapel choir throughout the academic year.Directors of the organisation included Johann Christoph Pepusch (from onwards), Benjamin Cooke and Samuel Arnold (from onwards).[citation needed]
H. D. Johnstone called the Academy of Ancient Music "the most famous and influential institution of its gentle in eighteenth-century London".[2]
Modern revival
In , the Academy of Ancient Song was revived by the British conductor and harpsichordist, Christopher Hogwood, for the purpose of playing 18th- and early 19th-century harmony on period instruments.
For choral works, it is joined by the Academy of Ancient Melody Chorus or by other external choruses.
The AAM was the first orchestra to record all of Mozart's symphonies on period instruments.
Richard Egarr brings a joyful sense of adventure and a keen, enquiring mind to all his music-making — whether conducting, directing from the keyboard, giving recitals, playing chamber-music and, indeed, talking about music at every opportunity. Egarr straddles the worlds of historically informed and modern symphonic performance, and has conducted many leading symphony orchestras, notably the London Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras. In As half of Duo Pleyel he plays and records four-hands repertoire with his wife Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya, releasing their first disc for Linn in Schubertto enthusiastic reviews.The AAM has since recorded the complete Beethoven's piano concertos, with fortepianistSteven Lubin, and symphonies, and has recorded numerous Haydn's symphonies. It continues to record its cycle of Mozart's piano concertos, with fortepianist Robert Levin, with the final releases due in [5] The AAM has also recorded Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Handel's Orlando and Rinaldo, Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Haydn's L'anima del filosofo and over other recordings for a range of different labels.[citation needed]
The commissioning of new works under Paul Goodwin represented a new development for the AAM.
The first commission and recording, John Tavener's Eternity's Sunrise, met with enthusiastic critical acclaim and led to a second fresh Tavener work and recording, Total Eclipse. David Bedford's Like a Strand of Scarlet followed in and, in , the AAM premiered John Woolrich's Arcangelo, written to mark the th anniversary of the birth of Arcangelo Corelli.
The next commission in celebrated the th anniversary of Mozart's birth with a operate from the Scottish-American composer Thea Musgrave, Journey into Light, which was written as a companion piece to Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate.
Recently, this trend has been revived with commissioning the harpsichordist, conductor, and scholar Mahan Esfahani to write a new orchestration of Bach's The Art of Fugue, which was premiered at the BBC Proms in July
Both Tavener recordings are on Harmonia Mundi (France), for whom the AAM has made a large number of CDs: Mozart's Zaïde and Christmas music by Schütz and his contemporaries (conducted by Paul Goodwin); violin concertos by J.S.
Bach and Vivaldi; and concerti grossi by Handel and Geminiani (directed by Andrew Manze); and Bach's harpsichord concertos (played by Richard Egarr).
There has hardly been a age over the last 35 years when Richard Egarr has not been at the forefront of the early music movement's progress - first in London, then Amsterdam, and for much of this century in the Joined States too. At the starting his reputation rested on his keyboard playing, the harpsichord and organ, but he soon moved into directing, whether from the harpsichord or conducting. These days he is back at the keyboard but exploring period pianos. For the last decade, he has been recording music for four hands by Dussek, Schubert and J.Choral recordings incorporate works by Bach, Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi, with King's College Choir under Stephen Cleobury, and several recordings with Edward Higginbottom and New College Choir, including Pergolesi's Marian Vespers and Handel's coronation anthems, a collection of music from 17th and 18th-century English coronations.
With Richard Egarr, the orchestra has released Handel's instrumental music Opp. 1–7, as well as Bach's four orchestral suites and his St John Passion. In , the Academy launched an in-house label for its future recordings.[6]
The AAM is Orchestra-in-Residence at the University of Cambridge.
In January , the Teatro San Cassiano announced that the AAM is to change into its first associate ensemble.[7]
Leadership
In , the AAM appointed Paul Goodwin as associate conductor and Andrew Manze as associate director under Hogwood.
Richard Egarr born 7 August is a British conductor and keyboard player. Study with Gustav Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historically informed performance. Egarr is widely known as a specialist in the baroque repertoire, [ 1 ] but has performed repertoire over a wide historical era, from fifteenth-century organ intabulations to Dussek and Chopin on early pianos, to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He has recorded commercially several albums of solo keyboard harmony for such labels as Harmonia Mundi[ 2 ] [ 3 ] as well as chamber repertoire for such labels as Hyperion.In , Manze resigned as associate director, to be replaced in by Richard Egarr. On 1 September , Egarr succeeded Hogwood as music director of the AAM and Hogwood received the title of emeritus director.
Egarr concluded his tenure as AAM music director at the close of the – season.[8] In November , the AAM announced the appointment of Laurence Cummings as its next music director, effective with the – season.[9]
Past general managers and chief executives of the AAM have included Heather Jarman, Paul Hughes, Christopher Lawrence, Peter Ansell, Michael Garvey, Jonathan Manners, Ed Hossack and Alexander Van Ingen.[10] In June , the AAM announced the appointment of John McMunn as its next main person executive, effective 1 September [11]