Andrew Manze, violin

BIOGRAPHY

Through his work as conductor, violinist and broadcaster, Andrew Manze has become known for the energy and insight he brings to a remarkable range of music. As a conductor, he is in demand with orchestras around the world in baroque, classical and increasingly nineteenth and twentieth century repertoire. As a violinist he specializes in music from 1610 to 1830. He also teaches, edits and writes about music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television.

After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Manze studied the violin with Simon Standage and Marie Leonhardt. He was Associate Director of The Academy of Ancient Music from 1996 to 2003, and Artistic Director of The English Concert from 2003 until 2006. He is also Artist-in-residence at the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

From the 2006-07 season Manze takes up a new role as Principal Conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden. As a guest conductor, Manze regularly directs symphonic repertoire and large scale oratorios throughout Europe and the USA. He has regular relationships with a number of leading orchestras including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. Forthcoming engagements include debuts with Munich Philharmonic, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Northern Sinfonia.

In his role with The English Concert, Manze has explored classical repertoire, including Mozart`s violin concertos, orchestral works and re-orchestrations of Handel`s oratorios, while continuing to perform baroque works. Recent highlights have included a tour of the Far East, concerts across the USA and appearances at major European festivals including Bath, Cheltenham, Utrecht, La Chaise Dieu, Prague and Flanders.

Andrew Manze records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA and has released an astonishing variety of CDs. His latest recording is of Mozart Violin Concerti Nos. 3-5, played and directed by Manze with The English Concert. This has been voted Disc of the Week by BBC Radio 3's CD Review, Disc of the Month by Classic FM Magazine and Orchestral Choice by BBC Music Magazine. The Observer commented that "They don't come much better than the elegant Andrew Manze, directing The English Concert while playing a stylish solo (and his own cadenzas) in three violin concertos." Other recordings with The English Concert include another Mozart disc, concerti from Vivaldi`s little-known Viennese La cetra and a recently unearthed Biber mass. These are in addition to the string of award-winning discs Manze made with the Academy of Ancient Music.

His long standing collaboration with Richard Egarr has won great acclaim. Their recordings have won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Gramophone Award and a 2003 Grammy nomination, and include sonatas by Bach, Handel and Biber. Manze and Egarr's most recent recording, Mozart's 1781 Violin Sonatas, has been similarly well received. Gramophone praised "A manner of performance that is at once vigorous and laid back, unforced but forthright. Notable characteristics include a fortepiano whose sound darkens as it softens and a seemingly effortless fiddle-playing style...an ingredient that Manze and Egarr display in abundance is imagination."

Manze is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, London and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concertos by Mozart and Bach published by Bärenreiter and Breitkopf and Härtel.

December 2006 – please destroy any previously dated or undated versions

Richard Egarr, piano
BIOGRAPHY

Richard Egarr is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. 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 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 St. Matthew Passion to John Taverner's Ikon of Light. He has worked with specialised ensembles and modern orchestras alike. Recent guest 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.

During the 2006/07 season Richard directed a staged version of Purcell's Dido & Aeneas, a production that will be revived in 2008. His debut at the Flemish Radio Orchestra (conducting Berlioz's Symphonie Phantastique) prompted a new invitation for next season. This season also comprises guest directions with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Bach's Matthew Passion (with the Dutch Bach Society, and, in a staged version, at Glyndebourne).

Richard Egarr is director of the Amsterdam based Academy of the Begijnhof. This year he was appointed as Christopher Hogwood's successor as Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music.

As soloist, Richard Egarr has performed extensively in the major music festivals throughout Europe and Japan. He toured the USA in 2006 with Bach's Goldberg Variations to great critical acclaim. Richard has also appeared as orchestral soloist, recently with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra, with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, and 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), Bach's Goldberg Variations and a disc with Fantasies & Rondos by Mozart. Many of his numerous and exciting recordings with violinist Andrew Manze have been awarded with international prizes, e.g. Violin Sonatas by Rebel, Pandolfi (Gramophone Award), Handel (Grammy Nomination), 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 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.

December, 2006. Please destroy any previously dated or undated versions .