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 Andrew Manze, who became the Music Director of The English Concert with the 2003-04 season, is 'among the most exciting of early music's young blades' (The Independent), and has been referred to as 'a violinist with extraordinary flair and improvisatory freedom, the Grapelli of the baroque (BBC Music Magazine).
As a soloist, orchestral director and chamber musician his repertory embraces music from 1610 to 1838, and as a conductor he is in increasing demand amongst orchestras worldwide. He also teaches, writes and broadcasts about many aspects of the 'early music' world.
Manze studied at Cambridge University, at the Royal Academy in London, and at the Royal Academy in the Hague. Before being named Music Director of The English Concert, Andrew Manze was concertmaster of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and Associate Director of The Academy of Ancient Music. As a chamber musician, he was a member of the celebrated trio Romanesca, and since 1984 he has collaborated with the harpsichordist Richard Egarr. As a solo artist Andrew Manze has played in more that thirty different countries in Europe, America, the Middle East and the Far East, as a guest conductor he has appeared with the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester (Berlin) and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.
Manze records exclusively with Harmonia Mundi, and has recorded works by, among others, Bach, Biber, Schmelzer, Vivaldi, and Handel. His recordings have been honoured with Gramophone, Edison, and Cannes Classical Awards, as well as with the Premio Internazionale del Disco Vivaldi Antica Italiana, the Diapason d'Or, and the Preis der Deutschen Shallplattenkritik.
Manze is a tutor and director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra, a training initiative of the European Union. He is a regular guest at international masterclasses, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, and a Visiting Professor of the Royal College of Music.
The English Concert
The English Concert was founded by Trevor Pinnock in 1973. They have together established a worldwide reputation for the expressive vitality and technical quality of their music-making, and have for many years been amongst Britain's leading period instrument ensembles.
The English Concert promotes its own series of concerts in London and is also in great demand overseas with a repertoire ranging from chamber music to opera. In 2002 the focus for the larger scale work is on J.S. Bach's great religious masterpieces, the St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio, while the orchestral work includes concerts in the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Hungary. In 2001 The English Concert toured a new Jonathan Miller production of Handel's great opera Tamerlano as a co-production with the Handel Festival, Halle and Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris. The opera was also recorded live at Sadler's Wells in London and the 3CD set (more details) was launched in April 2002 on the new Avie label. Outside Europe, The English Concert has toured the US, South America and Japan within the last two seasons, and will return to South America in the 2003/04 season and to North America in 2004/05.
In 2003 Trevor Pinnock stepped down as Artistic Director of The English Concert after 30 years in the role. The outstandingly gifted violinist, Andrew Manze, took up up this position in Summer 2003. Andrew has written: "It is a great honour to accept the artistic leadership of The English Concert. I have admired the orchestra and Trevor Pinnock for many years (indeed they were the first period instrument band I ever heard) and am tremendously looking forward to the years ahead."
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