CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD

Full Biography

"This outstanding conductor knew exactly how to blend insight and attention to detail in presenting Mozart's music in all its formal perfection and clarity of expression. Thanks to his balanced but never excessively purist approach...the music flowed onward with a grace and elegance that was nimble, light in texture and in the best sense 'well-tempered'. This alone was without any doubt enough in itself to make the occasion a highlight of the opera season."
Leipziger-Almanach - Clemenza di Tito - January 2008

Christopher Hogwood, distinguished conductor, keyboardist and musicologist, is one of the greatest proponents of the early music movement, as well as a renowned conductor of nineteenth and twentieth-century works. Emeritus Director of the Academy of Ancient Music, the orchestra he founded in 1973 and with whom he has a critically acclaimed catalogue of over 200 recordings, Hogwood is currently conducting a series of rarely performed Handel operas in concert with Flavio this spring. He is Conductor Laureate of Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society and continues to be a regular guest with many of the world’s leading orchestras including Tonhalle Zurich, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Frankfurt Radio Symphony and Athens Camerata. This season he returns to conduct the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and Bremer Philharmoniker.

Hogwood has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera houses and his performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at La Scala, Milan in July 2006 were hailed as the “most evocative moment of the La Scala Season”. (La Corriere Della Sera – July 2006). This season sees his first visit to Leipzig Opera to conduct Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and next year he appears at Teatro Real, Madrid in performances of Stravinsky's "The Rake's Progress" and returns to London's Royal Opera House for a Handel and Purcell double bill.

Hogwood began his career as a keyboard player over forty years ago and has been a major force in the revolution that has forever changed the way music is performed, recorded and heard. Based on the principle of discovering and, as far as possible, recreating the composer’s intentions, both in notation and performance, his approach begins with musicology – going back to the original sources, correcting published errors, tracking changes in subsequent editions. Only then does he apply his deep knowledge of performance practice to the rehearsal room, concert hall and recording studio.

His repertoire ranges from mediaeval to contemporary music, yet he is particularly associated with the music of Haydn and Handel, and in twentieth-century music has an affinity for the neo-baroque and neo-classical schools including works by Stravinsky, Martinu and the Entartete composers. He is especially interested in Czech music and was awarded the Martinu Medal in 1999. With symphony and chamber orchestras he creates intriguing juxtapositions of the new and the old (Mozart and Schnittke, Webern and Bach, Haydn and Martinu) and has directed many premieres of works by European and American composers.

An important contributor to numerous publishers and particularly Baerenreiter, Hogwood’s current editorial projects range from sixteenth century Italian music to the last orchestral work by Stravinsky. Of particular note is the publication of the many alternative versions of the great overtures and symphonies by Mendelssohn, revealing new insight into his working methods; major keyboard collections such as the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and complete keyboard works of Purcell; plus unusual and intriguing arrangements by contemporaries of Mozart and Haydn. He has just completed a new edition of Elgar’s Enigma variations. In addition, he chairs the board of the CPE Bach Complete Works Edition and is also on the board of the Martinu Complete Edition.

Hogwood’s celebrated catalogue of recordings with AAM for Decca includes the complete Mozart and Beethoven symphonies on period instruments. Many of these recordings are now being reissued. The neo-classical is also well represented by a series of recordings on Sony/BMG’s Arte Nova label, featuring composers such as Martinu, Stravinsky, Britten, Copland, Tippett and Honegger. Other recent projects include the Secret Series for clavichord – Secret Mozart (Sony), Secret Handel and Secret Bach (Metronome) – and Martinu’s complete works for violin and orchestra with Bohuslav Matousek as soloist, with the remaining volumes released by Hyperion in February, May and September this year. Secret Handel was recently awarded a Diapason d’Or.

Hogwood’s many publications include a survey of patronage through the ages (Music at Court), biographical studies of Haydn and Mozart (Thames and Hudson), a history of the trio sonata (BBC Publications), and investigations of British music. His book on Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks was recently published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) and a revised edition of his classic biography of Handel was issued in 2007. His written work has been translated into six languages.

Hogwood is Honorary Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge; he holds Fellowships at Jesus and Pembroke Colleges, Cambridge; and is Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. For his unique contribution to Handel – performance, editing, recording and writing – he is this year's recipient of the Halle Handel Prize.

Visit www.hogwood.org for further information on Christopher Hogwood and his work.

Please use for promotional material up until 31.07.08. For use further ahead, please ask for an updated version.

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT PROJECTS

CONDUCTING

Leipzig Opera - Mozart - "La Clemenza di Tito" - January 2008
"In conductor Christopher Hogwood, Mozart has an expert, precise and skilled interpreter at his disposal."
Sächsische Zeitung, January 2008

Tonhalle Orchester - Schumann - Manfred and Symphony No.3 - Zurich Festspiele - June 2007
"Hogwood’s interpretation moved in a triangle of elegance, natural flow and dance-like brilliance."
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 2007

Academy of Ancient Music – Handel “Amadigi” – Birmingham Symphony Hall – May 2007
"The first star was Christopher Hogwood, one of the most technically correct conductors around. He has a very clear beat, no awkward mannerisms, graceful and flowing movements that help to make him an attractive conductor to watch, and an overall feeling that he is serving the music, rather than attempting to get the music to serve him. What joy!"
Early Music Review, Aug 2007

Dido and Aeneas – La Scala, Milan – July 2006
“Christopher Hogwood.. offered an interpretation of Dido and Aeneas that was delicate, light as embroidery and diamond-like in its sharpness and clarity of sound.”
L’Opera, Aug 2006

RECORDINGS

Martinu - The complete music for violin and orchestra Vol. 2 - Hyperion CDA67672 - February 2008
"Christopher Hogwood has developed into an outstanding Martinu interpreter and the performances are first-class"
International Record Review, February 2008

Martinu – The complete music for violin and orchestra Vol. 1 - Hyperion CDA67671 - October 2007
“This disc is an utter delight from start to finish”
Gramophone

Secret Mozart – Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 82876 83288-2 – August 2006
“Hogwood is such a subtle and skilful artist that just to hear his musical thoughts on Mozart’s keyboard works is a privilege. As befits the instruments, he takes a measured and respectful view of the works, only lightly ornamenting them on occasion.”
International Record Review, October 2006

PUBLICATIONS

HANDEL – Christopher Hogwood – Thames and Hudson – May 2007
“A thorough and excellent guide to the life and works of the great man”
The Sunday Times

Handel’s Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks - CUP - 2005
‘.. it is almost everything one could wish for in a monograph: succinct, well written, effortlessly au fait with the work of current musicologists, massively informative, able to convey affection for the man and his music, generously illustrated with well selected examples, sprinkled with good aperçus, authoritative on the political and other contexts, well produced and above all musical in focus. Hogwood treats music as music, a musician as a musician, and what a relief that is!’...
The Musical Times (Peter Williams), Summer 2006