Born in Dorset, England, in 1943, John Eliot Gardiner originally devoted himself to history and Arabic studies before he took up music, completing his education at Cambridge University and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. While still a student, he founded the Monteverdi Choir in 1964 and in 1968 the Monteverdi Orchestra, from which he later formed the English Baroque Soloists. In 1989 Gardiner inaugurated the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, which also performs on period instruments. Further accomplishments have included his associations with the Opéra de Lyon (1983–88), the Göttingen Handel Festival (1981–90), and the NDR Symphony Orchestra (1991–94). John Eliot Gardiner has collaborated as guest conductor with the London Symphony, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics. He has led opera productions at London’s Royal Opera House and conducted Janáceks Jenufa at the Salzburg Festival, while he regularly guest conducts opera in Paris (where he recently led Chabrier’s L’Etoile and, in June 2009, Bizet’s Carmen). Gardiner’s Bach Cantata Pilgrimage excited particular interest in 2000, when he led performances of the complete Bach cantatas, documenting the entire project on his own record label, “Soli Deo Gloria.” In 2007 he was the subject of a special “Domaine Privé” in Paris’s Cité de la Musique, while in 2008 he led the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in a complete Brahms cycle in several European cities. John Eliot Gardiner has made more than 250 recordings, winning such distinctions as the Gramophone Award, the German Record Critics’ Award, the ECHO Klassik Award, and the Cannes Classical Award. In 1998, Gardiner received the knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, and in 2005 he was honored with the Leipzig Bach Medal and the Sonning Music Prize.
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on September 2, 1994 conducting the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir in Mozart’s Thamos, King of Egypt and the Mass in C minor. Last appearance: August 21, 2001 with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, performing works of Mendelssohn and Mozart.