John Eliot Gardiner

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Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943)<ref name=Birth>Template:Cite news</ref> is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Bach's church cantatas in liturgical order in churches all over Europe, and New York City, with the Monteverdi Choir, and recording them at the locations.

Life and career

Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Gardiner's early musical experience came largely through singing with his family and in a local church choir. As a child, he grew up with the celebrated Haussmann portrait of J. S. Bach, which had been lent to his parents for safe keeping during the Second World War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A self-taught musician who also played the violin, he began to study conducting at the age of 15. He was educated at Bryanston School, then studied History at King's College, Cambridge, where his tutor was the social anthropologist Edmund Leach.<ref name=Gale>"John Eliot Gardiner", in Contemporary Musicians (1999), Detroit: Gale</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, by Elias Gottlob Haussmann, which was in Gardiner's childhood home

While an undergraduate at Cambridge, he launched his conducting career with a performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine in King's College Chapel on 5 March 1964.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This either featured or led to the foundation of the Monteverdi Choir, with which he made his London conducting debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1966.<ref name=Gale /> Whilst at Cambridge, he conducted the Oxford and Cambridge Singers on a concert tour of the Middle East.<ref name=Gale /> After graduating, Gardiner continued his musical studies at King's College London under Thurston Dart and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, whose music had been a very early influence.<ref name="Gardiner-2015">Template:Cite book</ref>

Returning to England, Gardiner joined the BBC Northern Orchestra as an apprentice conductor.<ref name="Gardiner-2015"/> In 1968, he founded the Monteverdi Orchestra. Upon changing from modern instruments to period instruments in 1977, the orchestra changed its name to the English Baroque Soloists in 1978.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1969, Gardiner made his opera debut with a performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute at the English National Opera. Four years later, in 1973, he made his first appearance at the Covent Garden conducting Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride. The English Baroque Soloists made their opera debut with him in the 1977 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, performing Handel's Acis and Galatea on period instruments. His American debut came in 1979 when he conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He then became the lead conductor of Canada's CBC Vancouver Orchestra from 1980 to 1983.<ref name="thecanadianencyclopedia"> Template:Citation </ref>

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.<ref> Template:Citation </ref> During his time with the Opéra National de Lyon Gardiner was also Artistic Director of the Göttingen Handel Festival (1981 until 1990).<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1989, the Monteverdi Choir had its 25th anniversary, touring the world giving performances of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt and Bach's Magnificat among other works. In 1990, Gardiner formed a new period-instrument orchestra, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to perform music of the 19th century. From 1991 until 1995, he was principal conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He founded the Monteverdi Choir (1964), the English Baroque Soloists (1978) and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (1989). From the 1990s onwards 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.
  • 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.<ref>

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  • In late 2004, Gardiner toured France and Spain with the Monteverdi Choir performing pieces from the Codex Calixtinus in cathedrals and churches along the Camino de Santiago.<ref>

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In rehearsal, 2007

Gardiner has recorded over 250 albums, most of which have been published by Deutsche Grammophon and Philips Classics,<ref name="monteverdi1"> Template:Citation</ref> and by the Soli Deo Gloria label, which specialises in recordings by Gardiner and by his ensembles.

Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, but 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 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.<ref name="BBC Eroica"> Template:Cite press release </ref> Gardiner has served as chief conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as guest conductor with such major orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic. Gardiner is also well known for his refusal to perform the music of Richard Wagner; in a 2008 interview for Gramophone Gardiner said, 'I really loathe Wagner – everything he stands for – and I don't even like his music very much.'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gardiner has been the subject of various allegations of rudeness and bullying of performers and colleagues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref> [1] Template:Dead link</ref>

In late 2012, citing health concerns, he cancelled his planned December 2013 tour of Australia with the Monteverdi Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2013, Gardiner published the book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.<ref>Template:Cite book Reprinted 2015 , Vintage, Template:ISBN</ref> In 2014. he started a five-year term as President of the Leipzig Bach Archive, being succeeded by Ton Koopman in that position in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> One of the realisations during Gardiner's presidency was the Archive's collaboration to the Bach 333 box set with the complete recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's works, released in 2018.<ref>Bach 333 website (26 October 2018)</ref>

Gardiner conducted his Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a pre-service concert at Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King Charles III.

In 2013, he narrated the BBC Two documentary Bach: A Passionate Life.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversies

In August 2023, Gardiner was reported to have angrily slapped and punched English bass singer William Thomas in the face in front of cast members after Thomas exited the wrong side of the podium after a performance of Les Troyens at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint André. The incident resulted in a public backlash against the conductor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 24 August 2023, Gardiner withdrew from all further engagements<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Gecsoyler">Template:Cite news</ref> for 'a period of reflection and, in consultation with his medical advisors ... focusing on his mental health while engaging in a course of counselling'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In July 2024, it was announced that he would be stepping down as leader and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras, focusing instead on 'other activities including guest conducting, recording, writing, creative and education projects.'<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2024, Gardiner founded the Constellation Choir and Orchestra, following his departure from the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras earlier that year. The new ensemble attracted several former members of the Monteverdi ensembles, leading to a competitive dynamic between the groups. Some concert venues replaced scheduled Monteverdi performances with those of Gardiner's new ensemble, further intensifying the rivalry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honours and awards

Gardiner has received a variety of honours and awards,<ref> Template:Citation </ref> including:

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Notable recordings

Gardiner is primarily known for recording choral and operatic works from the Baroque and early Classical periods, many of which have won international classical music awards. His recordings have won over a dozen Gramophone Classical Music Awards, three Grammy Awards, a German Record Critics' Award, ECHO Klassik Award and an Académie Charles Cros Grand Prix and received several nominations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most of these recordings are with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists and various soloists such as Bryn Terfel, Anne Sofie von Otter, Sylvia McNair, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Barbara Hendricks, Rodney Gilfry, among others. He has also made several recordings of Romantic composers with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, with several works by Berlioz and the symphonies by Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. Most of his recordings have been released in collaboration with Archiv Produktion of Deutsche Grammophon. He has also recorded with the music labels Philips and Erato.

Personal life

Gardiner is the son of the British rural revivalist and Nazi sympathizer Rolf Gardiner (1902–1971),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the grandson of the Egyptologist Alan Gardiner (1879–1963). His mother, Marabel Hodgkin, was a member of the Hodgkin family, a notable Quaker family; the artist Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017) was Gardiner's first cousin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gardiner was married to violinist Elizabeth Wilcock from 1981 to 1997;Template:Citation needed they have three daughters, including screenwriter and showrunner Francesca Gardiner.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 2001 to 2019, he was married to Isabella de Sabata,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> granddaughter of conductor Victor de Sabata.<ref> Template:Citation</ref>

In his spare time, Gardiner runs a farm at Springhead near Fontmell Magna<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Dorset, which was established by his great-uncle, composer Henry Balfour Gardiner. His continued involvement in this project has earned him the nickname 'Uphill Gardiner' as a consequence of his unorthodox farming methods.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In August 2014, Gardiner was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that subject.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Selected publications

See also

References

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