John Eliot Gardiner

Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC (born April 20, 1943, Fontmell Magna, Dorset, England) is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir (1966), the English Baroque Soloists (1978) and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (1990). Gardiner has recorded over 250 albums with these and other musical ensembles, most of which have been published by Deutsche Grammophon and Philips Classics. [Citation
title = Monteverdi Productions website
url = http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/about_us/jeg.cfm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] John Eliot Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists. His repertoire and discography are not limited to Early music. With the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Gardiner has performed a wide range of Classical and Romantic music, including many works of Hector Berlioz and all of Beethoven's symphonies. A recording of the third symphony of the latter was used in a dramatisation by the BBC of Beethoven's writing of that symphony. [cite press release
title = Ian Hart is Beethoven in unique drama of the first performance of the Eroica Symphony
publisher = BBC
date = May 15 2003
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/05_may/19/eroica.shtml
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] Gardiner has served as chief conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as guest conductor of some of the most famous orchestras including the Philharmonia, Boston, Cleveland, Royal Concertgebouw and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras.

Career

John Eliot Gardiner first took up the baton at the age of fifteen. As an undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge he studied history and Arabic. He toured the Middle East conducting the Oxford and Cambridge singers. During his time in Cambridge he founded, in 1964, his first musical ensemble, the Monteverdi Choir. With the Monteverdi Choir he made his conducting debut at the Wigmore Hall in London in 1966. To complement the Monteverdi Choir he formed the Monteverdi Orchestra in 1968, who played on modern instruments, but after changing to period instruments in 1977 they became known as the English Baroque Soloists. After graduating from King's College, Cambridge, he studied at King's College London with Thurston Dart and with the influential French music professor Nadia Boulanger.

In 1969 Gardiner made his debut in the opera house with a performance of Mozart's the "Die Zauberflöte" at the English National Opera. Four years later, in 1973, he first appeared at Covent Garden conducting Gluck's "Iphigénie en Tauride". In 1977 he transformed the Monteverdi Orchestra to the English Baroque Soloists; they made their debut with him in that year's Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, performing Händel's "Acis and Galatea" on period instruments. His American debut came in 1979 when he conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Shortly thereafter he was the lead conductor of Canada's CBC Vancouver Orchestra. He held this post from 1980 to 1983. [Citation
title = CBC Radio Orchestra
url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000638
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]

After his period with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Gardiner went to France. From 1983 to 1988 he was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon. During his period with the Opéra he founded an entirely new orchestra. [Citation
title = The Opera House Orchestra
url = http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/culture/opera_1/
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] During his time with the Opéra National de Lyon Gardiner was also Artistic Director of the Göttingen Handel Festival (1981 until 1990). [cite paper
author = Göttingen Händelfestspiele
title = A Brief History of the Göttingen Händelfestspiele
date = 2007
format = PDF
url = http://www.haendel-festspiele.com/fck_uploads/History-Handel-Festival.pdf
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] In 1989 the Monteverdi Choir had its 25th anniversary, touring the world giving performances of Monteverdi's "Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610". In 1990, Gardiner formed a new period-instrument orchestra, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to perform music of the 19th century. From 1991 until 1994 he was principal conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In the 1990s he undertook more world tours with his ensembles, including:
* A European tour in 1993 with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique featured Berlioz's rediscovered "Messe solennelle". Beginning in Bremen, Germany the tour ended with a recorded performance in Westminster Cathedral, London 1993. [Citation
title = Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
url = http://www.answers.com/topic/orchestre-revolutionnaire-et-romantique/
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] [Citation
title = Berlioz: Messe solennelle
url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259887/
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
* In 2000, Gardiner set out on his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing, over a 52-week period, all of Bach's sacred cantatas in churches around Europe and the United States. [Citation
title = Bach Cantata Pilgrimage
url = http://www.monteverdiproductions.co.uk/about_us/bcp.cfm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
*In late 2004, Gardiner toured Spain with the Monteverdi Choir performing pieces from the "Codex Compostelanus" in cathedrals and churches along the Camino de Santiago. [Citation
title = Santiago Pilgrimage 2004 Website
url = http://www.monteverdipilgrimage.co.uk/
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]

Honours and awards

Gardiner has received a variety of honours and awards. [Citation
title = John Eliot Gardiner (Bio)
url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Gardiner-John-Eliot.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] In particular:
*Honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon, 1987 [Citation
title = Monteverdi Productions website
url = http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/about_us/jeg.cfm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
*Commander in the Order of the British Empire, 1990 New Year Honours []
*Honorary Fellow of King's College and the Royal Academy of Music, 1992 [Citation
title = Monteverdi Productions website
url = http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/about_us/jeg.cfm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
* Grammy, Best Choral Performance, 1994 [Citation
title = Grammy Award Winners
url = http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=gardiner&winner=&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
*Knight Bachelor, 1998 [Cite web
title = Honours and Awards — Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood
date = September 14 1999
work = London Gazette
url = http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewGazetteDocument.aspx?src=search&atdocid=108681&pg=1&GeoType=London&st=adv&sb=date&FDay=11&FMth=6&FYr=1998&TDay=14&TMth=6&TYr=2000&exact=john%20eliot%20gardiner]
* Grammy, Best Opera Recording, 1999 [Citation
title = Grammy Award Winners
url = http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=gardiner&winner=&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]
* Doctorate Honoris Causa in Musicology at the University of Cremona (birthplace of Claudio Monteverdi) , 2006 [Citation
title = Monteverdi Productions website
url = http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/about_us/jeg.cfm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ]

Family

Gardiner was married to violinist Elizabeth Wilcock from 1981 to 1997; they have three daughters. In 2001 he married Isabella de Sabata, granddaughter of conductor Victor de Sabata. [Citation
title = John Eliot Gardiner - gewend zijn eigen beslissingen te nemen (Dutch)
url = http://www.audio-muziek.nl/interviews/gardiner01_interview.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-17 ] In his spare time, Gardiner runs an organic farm in North Dorset, which was set up by his great uncle, composer Henry Balfour Gardiner. His father was Rolf Gardiner.

References

Media

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggm0SZCWKZo&feature=related Sir Gardiner directs J.S.Bach BWV 248. Video on youtube]

External links

* [http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/index.cfm Monteverdi Productions]
* [http://www.cantatafinder.com/en Concordance covering all Bach's vocal works recorded by John Eliot Gardiner]
* [http://www.musicomh.com/classical/features/john-eliot-gardiner_0508.htm musicOMH.com: Interview with John Eliot Gardiner]
* [http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/magazine/interviews/2002/09/338_2.php Goldberg Magazine: Interview with John Eliot Gardiner]