John Eliot Gardiner
John Eliot Gardiner is revered as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians and is a leader in the contemporary musical world. His work as Founder and Artistic Director of the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists (EBS), and Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) has made him a key figure both in the early music revival and historically informed performance practice.
Gardiner is a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducting repertoire from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.
His broad repertoire is illustrated by his extensive catalogue of award-winning recordings with the Monteverdi ensembles and other leading orchestras on both major labels and his own Soli Deo Gloria label. He holds two GRAMMY Awards and has received more Gramophone Classical Music Awards than any other living artist.
In 2022, John Eliot Gardiner performed a number of successful tours with the Monteverdi Choir, including partnerships with the Berlin Philharmonic and Concertgebouw and Orchestra Philharmonique Luxembourg; symphonies by Mozart and Haydn at venues in Europe and the United States; a program of Bach, Schütz, and Schein at prestigious festivals across Europe; and Beethoven’s late masterpiece Missa solemnis at the BBC Proms, Berliner Festspiele, and Wratisavia Cantans. The year culminated with a tour of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Teatro all Scala in Milan, the Chapelle Royale at the Château de Versailles in Versailles, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. This performance was livestreamed on Deutsche Grammophon’s new digital platform Stage+.
In 2021, Gardiner conducted the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a livestreamed Bach’s St John Passion from Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre, and performed at several of Europe’s most prestigious music festivals, including his sixtieth appearance at the BBC Proms. He ended the year conducting the Monteverdi Choir and ORR in performances of Berlioz’s sacred oratorio L’enfance du Christ, which included a critically acclaimed performance at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
The beginning of 2020 saw Gardiner conduct the ORR in three Beethoven symphony cycles as part of the Beethoven 250 anniversary celebrations. Other recent achievements with the Monteverdi ensembles include the RPS Award-winning Monteverdi 450 project in 2017 and a reprise of the 2000’s famous Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, which toured to some of Europe’s most famous concert halls and churches in 2018. In 2019, Gardiner conducted new productions of Handel’s Semele and Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini, and gave his debut performances in Colombia, Russia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.
An authority on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gardiner’s book Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, was published in October 2013 by Allen Lane, leading to the Prix des Muses award from the Singer-Polignac Foundation. Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Gardiner holds several honorary doctorates.
He was awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras
Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras (MCO) is the registered charity of three leading international music ensembles: the Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, and Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique.
Each ensemble shares in the distinctive vision of founder John Eliot Gardiner to bring fresh perspectives, immediacy, and drama to performances around the world. The ensembles’ world-class musicians specialize in historically inspired projects across a variety of repertoire, ranging from sacred music to semi-staged operas, as well as intimate chamber works.
In 2022, MCO performed a number of successful tours, including partnerships with the Berlin Philharmonic and Concertgebouw and Orchestra Philharmonique Luxembourg; symphonies by Mozart and Haydn at venues in Europe and the United States; a program of Bach, Schütz, and Schein at prestigious festivals across Europe; and Beethoven’s late masterpiece Missa solemnis at the BBC Proms, Berliner Festspiele, and Wratisavia Cantans. The year culminated with a tour of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Teatro all Scala in Milan, the Chapelle Royale at the Château de Versailles in Versailles, and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. This performance was livestreamed on Deutsche Grammophon’s new digital platform Stage+.
MCO records on its own label, Soli Deo Gloria, and collaborates with prestigious labels, including Deutsche Grammophon, with over 150 recordings, films, and livestreams, many of which have received critical acclaim. Notable recordings include Bach’s complete set of cantatas as part of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage project in 2000 and film recordings of Monteverdi’s three surviving operas as part of the Royal Philharmonic Society award-winning Monteverdi 450 project in 2017.
Alongside performances and recordings, MCO is committed to nurturing future generations of classical musicians. The Monteverdi Apprentice Program enables outstanding young musicians to train and perform alongside MCO’s three world-class ensembles under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.