Trevor Pinnock

The British harpischordist and conductor Trevor Pinnock, who was born in 1946 in Canterbury, received his earliest musical training as a choirboy at Canterbury Cathedral. At the age of 15 he began specializing in the harpsichord, and four years later he received a grant to study at the Royal College of Music, where he graduated with numerous awards. He initially performed as a harpsichordist with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields; in 1966 he founded the Galliard Harpsichord Trio and made his solo debut in 1968 at the Purcell Room in London. Pinnock became one of the leading figures in the historically informed performance practice movement with his ensemble The English Concert, which he founded in 1972 and would lead for more than 30 years. Many recordings document his artistic work with this ensemble. During this time, for five years (from 1991 to 1996), he also headed the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada. Since 2003 Pinnock has been a freelance conductor, harpsichordist, chamber musician, and educator. He has worked with many celebrated orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics and the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies. In 2016 he conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra. His most recent recordings include the solo recital Journey – 200 Years of Harpsichord Music, flute concertos by C.P.E. Bach with Emmanuel Pahud as the soloist, and Mozart’s Gran Partita with an ensemble of the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1992 Pinnock was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1998 France appointed him an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 4 April 1998 conducting The English Concert in Bach’s St. John Passion.

November 2016