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Egarr has been Principal Guest of the Residentie Orkest since 2019 and was Artistic Partner of the St Paul Chamber 2019-2026. He was Music Director (now Laureate) of the Philharmonia Baroque 2020-2024, Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music 2005-2020, and Associate Artist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra 2011-2017. He straddles the worlds of historically-informed and modern symphonic performance and has conducted many leading symphony orchestras, notably the London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw and Philadelphia orchestras. He made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007, and has conducted opera cycles of Monteverdi, Purcell and Mozart with AAM at the Barbican. Handel oratorios lie at the heart of his repertoire.
In 2026/27 he debuts with the Oslo Philharmonic for Bach’s St John Passion and National Symphony (Washington DC) for Handel’s Messiah, conducts Mozart and Beethoven with the Indianapolis Symphony, and returns to the Frankfurt Radio, Antwerp Symphony and Orquesta Sinfonica da Galicia, as well as to the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century to tour a Monteverdi programme after their hugely successful concert together at the Frankfurt Alte Oper last season. His Residentie Orkest plans include a Mozart/Strauss/Respighi programme as well as Mozart’s Requiem.
As half of Duo Pleyel, Egarr regularly plays four-hands repertoire with his wife Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya. In April 2027 they appear together at Kings Place to play Carl Czerny’s arrangements of Beethoven symphonies 5 & 6, coinciding with the release on Linn/Outhere of the whole Symphony cycle. This follows four acclaimed albums on Linn – Mozart/JC Bach, Dussek, Schubert, and a compilation of Yuletide favourites.
Egarr has given many solo harpsichord recitals over the years, notably at the Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall, and his extensive discography includes solo keyboard works by Byrd and Sweelinck on Linn, and by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Louis Couperin on Harmonia Mundi. His long list of recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music includes several award-winning Handel discs (2007 Gramophone Award, 2009 MIDEM and Edison awards) and both JS Bach’s Passions. His world premiere recording on AAM Records of Dussek’s Messe Solemnelle won the Gramophone Best Choral Recording 2021.
Egarr trained as a choirboy at York Minster, at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and was organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge. His studies with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historical performance. He taught for many years at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and was Visiting Professor at the Juilliard School for over 10 years.
Not to be altered without the permission of Intermusica. 2026/27 season, 438 words.