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When English soprano Emma Kirkby began her professional career in the mid-'70s, period performance practice was just beginning to make its way into the realm of vocal music. Kirkby, mentored by Jessica Cash, became a pioneer of period practice for Renaissance and Baroque vocal soloists. She studied classical literature at Oxford and took vocal lessons, but did not plan on becoming a singer. She joined the Taverner Choir in 1971, and a couple of years later, she began a long-lasting collaboration with the Consort of Musicke. She made her 1974 concert debut in London and her first tour of the United States in 1978. Tours to all of the major music capitals of the world have followed. Especially noteworthy was a tour of the Arabian states with lutenist Anthony Rooley, to whom she is married. In her collaborations with groups like those already mentioned, and others -- such as the Academy of Ancient Music, London Baroque, Fretwork, L'Orfeo, and the Purcell Quartet -- she increased the public awareness of correct Baroque performance practice while carefully avoiding pedantry. She brings a great deal of drama and musicianship to her performances. Besides the lute songs of the Renaissance era, Kirkby is well known for her performances of the cantatas and passions of Bach and the choral music of Monteverdi. Her voice is a very light, lyric soprano of unusual sweetness. She has excellent control of the voice and is able to sing without any vibrato, a quality that many practitioners of early music prefer.

Her hundreds of recordings give an excellent view of the range of her repertoire, at times even expanding on it, since she has recorded several operas that she has not sung on-stage, including Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Monteverdi's Orfeo, Handel's Orlando, and Hasse's Cleofide. Once in a while, she'll try something unexpected, such as the songs of Amy Beach or cantatas by little-known Baroque composers. Her early recordings were part of the Florilegium series from Decca. Since then she's recorded on Hyperion, Carus, CPO, Harmonia Mundi, BIS, and other labels. Kirkby was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2007. ~ Patsy Morita

Catherine Bott is one of the leading London-based sopranos, particularly renowned among those participating regularly in early music performances. She studied with Arthur Reckless at the Guildhall School of Music. The early music movement was burgeoning in England at the time of her graduation, and she found the music appealed to her sensibilities. Her interpretations and performances are frequently noted for their intelligence.

Her recordings include Purcell's The Fairy Queen (Erato), the part of Drusilla in L'incoronazione di Poppea on Deutsche Grammophon, Herodiade Figlia in Stradella's San Giovanni Battista (Erato), Venus in John Blow's Venus and Adonis, a recording of Monteverdi's Vespers, Monteverdi's Orfeo, and a recital of "mad songs" and scenes from English Restoration theater, all the latter on Decca.

She has appeared with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre; the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra; Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music; Stephen Layton and Polyphony; the New London Consort under Philip Pickett; the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; and the American Bach Soloists. Works she has sung include Mozart's Requiem, Regina coeli, and Exsultate, jubilate; programs of vocal music by Handel and Vivaldi, Handel's Messiah, Bach's B minor Mass, and Carissimi's Historia de Jepthe.

However, her activities are not limited to Classical and Baroque music. Romantic era works include Fauré's Requiem, Nielsen's Third Symphony, and Mahler's Das klagende Lied. Her modern repertory includes Berio's Laborintus II; Michael Nyman's Noises, Sounds, and Sweet Airs; Nikolai Korndorf's Hymnus III; John Harle's Silencium; and Michael Torke's Four Proverbs. She also sang on the soundtrack of the film The Emerald Forest.

She has appeared at the Brixen and Spitalfield's Festivals, the Kilkenny Arts Week, and the Lunchtime Concert Series at St. John's, Smith, Square. She has made 40 broadcast recordings for BBC Radio 3.

James Bowman was an influential English countertenor whose popularity led to the reintegration of the countertenor voice in modern vocal performance. He was known for collaborations with Benjamin Britten and David Munrow, and he recorded over 180 albums of music from all eras.

Bowman was born in Oxford in 1941, and he started singing when he was very young. He attended school at the King's School in Ely, where he sang as a boy chorister in the Ely Cathedral Choir. He eventually became a head chorister, and he sang as a bass after his voice changed. However, in 1959 he made his first appearance as a countertenor at the Lady Chapel, and he remained in this range thereafter. Bowman became a choral scholar at the New College of Oxford in 1960, where he earned his diploma in education in 1964 and his M.A. in History in 1967. He also sang in the New College Choir, Christ Church Choir, and the Choir of Westminster Abbey. After his graduation, Bowman auditioned for Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group, and he was offered the role of Oberon in the first production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This also led to a debut performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Britten later wrote other music for him such as Canticle No. 4, and the role of Apollo in Death in Venice. Bowman also participated in numerous premieres of other works, including Ridout's Phaeton, Maxwell Davies' Taverner, and Tippett's The Ice Break. He worked with several leading early music ensembles such as the Early Music Consort of London and Pro Cantione Antiqua, and he became highly respected in that genre.

Bowman toured and recorded constantly through the 1970s and '80s, and in 1990 he finally recorded Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He received several honors and awards in the 1990s, including the Medal of Honor of the city of Paris, an honorary doctorate from the University of Newcastle, and he became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He accepted an invitation to join the prestigious Gentleman of Her Majesty's Chapel Royal of St. James' Palace in 2000. In the early 2000s, Bowman recorded the albums Eternal Source of Light and Songs for Ariel, and he collaborated with Andrew Swait and Andrew Plant on Songs of Innocence in 2008. He performed his final London concert in 2011 at Wigmore Hall with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, and he continued giving infrequent recital performances. Bowman passed away in 2023. ~ RJ Lambert

As a specialist in historical violin techniques of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Simon Standage has performed with many of the world's leading period instrument orchestras. After a music degree from Cambridge University in 1963, a Harkness Fellowship to study with Ivan Galamian in New York City, and, after a 1972 Wigmore Hall debut, he became a founding member of Trevor Pinnock's ensemble the English Concert. Standage served as first (solo) violinist of this ensemble from 1973 to 1991; his recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the English Concert received a Grammy nomination. Standage also played extensively with the English Chamber Orchestra from 1974 to 1978, led the City of London Sinfonia from 1980 to 1989, and served as associate director of the Academy of Ancient Music from 1991 to 1995. Appointed professor of Baroque violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1983, he has taught at the Dresden Akademie für Alte Musik since 1993. In addition to these longtime associations, Standage has founded two ensembles devoted to historically aware string performance. The Salomon Quartet, which he founded in 1981, specializes in applying period instruments and approaches to the eighteenth century quartet and quintet repertory. In 1990, Standage and Richard Hickox founded the group Collegium Musicum 90. Under contract with Chandos Records, Collegium Musicum 90 produced more than 40 recordings in its first decade, from large-scale dramatic works to acclaimed trio sonata recordings.

Catherine Mackintosh has been one of the most active violinists on the English early music scene. She studied violin with Aurea Pernel and Silvia Rosenberg at the Royal College of Music, London. During her student years, she studied chamber music with Kenneth Skeaping and sang in Roger Norrington's Schütz choir. She was then awarded a three-year scholarship (1967-1969) to attend the European Seminars of Early Music in Bruges, where she performed on the early violin and viola, the viola d'amore, and the viol. In 1969, she helped found the Consort of Musicke and also joined the English Consort of Viols. In 1973, she became the first concertmistress of the Academy of Ancient Music, a position she held until 1987. With this orchestra, she made important recordings under the direction of Christopher Hogwood, including Handel's Messiah, the complete Mozart symphonies, and Vivaldi's L'estro armonico and the Four Seasons (sharing the solo parts in these concertos with Alison Bury, John Holloway, and Monica Huggett). In 1984, Mackintosh founded the Purcell Quartet, with which she recorded trio sonatas by Lawes, Purcell, Biber, Corelli, Handel, and Leclair. That same year, she became co-concertmistress with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, with which she made the first recording on period instruments of Vivaldi's concertos for viola d'amore. In 1997, she recorded Bach's violin sonatas with Maggie Cole. Mackintosh is an influential teacher of the early violin, having trained a new generation of period-instrument string players. She has taught at the Royal College of Music, London (1977-1999), and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (from 1988).

Christ Church is the oldest and best known of Oxford's colleges. The Cathedral began as a monastery founded in the eighth century by St. Frideswide. In 1546, the monastery, after having served as a priory and Cardinal College, was united with the See of Oxford and established as Christ Church Cathedral by King Henry VIII.

The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral was founded in 1526 and consists of sixteen boys and twelve men, as well as two organists. Chosen for their musical ability, the boys attend the Christ Church Cathedral School, on its own grounds, near the college. Six of the men, called Academic Clerks, attend Christ Church College and six are professionals, called Lay Clerks; some of England's finest organists have trained at the Cathedral and accompanied the choir.

The choir's history includes a series of illustrious directors, from John Taverner (the very first (appointed by Cardinal Wolsey in 1526) to William Walton (1912-18); Walton composed some of his most famous songs and anthems for the Cathedral Choir. Since its inception, the choir has sung daily services (usually Tuesday through Sunday) in the cathedral and given a large number of concerts and broadcasts for audiences both in England and abroad. The choir's repertoire spans hundreds of years, from the early Renaissance to the end of the twentieth century, and they have commissioned and recorded works by John Tavener, William Mathias, and Howard Goodall. Their award-winning recordings reflect their range of interpretive ability; most notable among them are English Choral Music 1514-1682 and Howard Goodall: Choral works, a recording of motets by J. S. Bach, and Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. The choir's recordings appear on the Nimbus and Metronome labels. Collaborations with organist and composer Howard Goodall have resulted in a number of unusual projects, including theme music for television shows such as Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley.

Referred to as "one of the finest choirs on Earth," the Christ Church Cathedral Choir has become recognized around the globe for its excellence. They have toured extensively in Europe, North and South America, Australia, and the Middle East. Christ Church Choir has collaborated with orchestras such as the ECO, London Sinfonietta, The Hanover Band, The English Concert, and The Academy of Ancient Music. In the year 2000, the choir made its fifth tour of the United States under its present director, Stephen Darlington.

The Academy of Ancient Music is among the highest-regarded period-instrument orchestras in the world. Initially focused on the music of the Baroque, the Academy has grown to perform music from the Classical period as well as new music written for historical instruments. The orchestra has recorded and performed prolifically since its founding, working with leading performers and ensembles from the historical performance sphere and beyond.

Keyboardist Christopher Hogwood established the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, using as his model an ensemble that had been founded in 1726 to perform music that was at least 150 years old. Thus, Hogwood's orchestra was one of the first in modern times to perform Baroque works on Baroque instruments. Hogwood chose members who were not only masters of their instruments but also scholars of the performance style of the period. The orchestra quickly gained recognition for its authentic performances and recordings, or at least stirred up musicological debate. In 1978, it spawned a Classical period orchestra to perform the works of Mozart, Haydn, and their contemporaries. That orchestra has recorded or taken on recording the complete symphonies of Mozart (the first such cycle on period instruments), Haydn, and Beethoven, and the complete piano concertos of Beethoven and Mozart. Recorded for Decca, these were under the direction of Hogwood, who also led recordings of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Handel's Rinaldo, all of which were prize winners and featured Cecilia Bartoli.

In 1996, Andrew Manze was named associate director, and Paul Goodwin was named associate conductor, allowing the Academy to expand its performance schedule and begin recording for the Harmonia Mundi label. The Academy also began extending invitations to others, such as Stephen Cleobury with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge; Edward Higginbottom with the Choir of New College, Oxford; Stephen Layton with Polyphony; and Masaaki Suzuki with the Japan Bach Collegium to be guest directors, furthering the Academy's vocal and choral repertoire. Instrumentalists Giuliano Carmignola, Richard Egarr, and Pavlo Beznosiuk were also asked to guest direct.

Goodwin began commissioning new works specifically for the distinctive instruments of the Academy, the first being 1997's Eternity's Sunrise for voice & baroque ensemble by John Tavener. Other commissioned works came from David Bedford; John Woolrich, whose Arcangelo for the group commemorated the 350th birthday of Arcangelo Corelli; and Thea Musgrave. Mahan Esfahani was commissioned to orchestrate Bach's Art of the Fugue, giving its premiere at the 2012 BBC Proms.

Manze stepped down from his post in 2003, as the Academy celebrated its 30th anniversary. The ensemble marked the year by also celebrating the Corelli anniversary and the 60th birthday of John Tavener in special concerts, and by beginning an exploration of the music of Mendelssohn, once again expanding its musicological horizons. Egarr was named associate director in 2005 and music director the following year, succeeding Hogwood, who was named director emeritus. The Academy's discography continues to grow, recording for the Decca, Signum Classics, and ABC Classics labels, among others. In 2013, the orchestra created and began recording on its own label, AAM Records, where it issued a recording of Dussek's Messe Solemnelle in 2020. That year, the Academy was also heard on a 2019 recording of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the King's College Choir, under Cleobury. ~ Patsy Morita & Keith Finke

Simon Preston established a career as a virtuoso organist and conductor of (mainly) religious choral music. He was a composer and an expert on organs as well, affecting the replacement of the traditional cathedral-style organ at Christ Church, Oxford, with a Rieger organ from Austria; he was consulted on the replacement of organs at the concert hall at St. John's, Smith Square and at Tonbridge School. Preston developed a broad repertory as both organist and conductor, taking in church (and other) music from the Baroque era but also reaching well into the 20th century. He performed and recorded concertos and solo works by J.S. Bach, concertos by Poulenc and Copland, and the Saint-Saëns Third Symphony. He also led performances of sacred music by Palestrina and Lassus, choral works of Handel and Purcell, and Anglican church music. Preston recorded extensively for various labels, including Decca, Philips, and Deutsche Grammophon.

Preston was born on August 4, 1938, in Bournemouth, England. As a child, he served as a chorister at Cambridge University (King's College), a time when he also took organ lessons from Hugh McLean. Later on, at the Royal Academy of Music, he studied organ with C.H. Trevor. Preston returned to King's College in 1958 for nearly five additional years of music study: his teachers there included Sir David Willcocks. By the early '60s, he had made several recordings, which included albums of music by Orlando Gibbons and Olivier Messiaen. Preston served as sub-organist at Westminster Abbey from 1962 to 1967. For the next several years, he toured Europe and the U.S. as an organ recitalist.

From 1970 until 1981, he served at Christ Church, Oxford, as organist and tutor in music. He recorded heavily during this time, achieving particular acclaim for his 1975 Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms on Argo with the Choir of Christ Church. Preston was organist and master of the choristers at Westminster Abbey from 1981 through 1987, during which time he composed some music for the 1984 film Amadeus and directed music at the 1986 royal wedding. After leaving his post at Westminster, Preston freelanced both from the keyboard and at the podium, touring around the world in both capacities. From 1987 until 2000, he recorded the complete organ music of Bach for Deutsche Grammophon. In 2006, Preston issued the album Royal Albert Hall Organ Restored on Signum Classics, which featured works by Mendelssohn, Bolcom, Jongen, and others. Preston was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire at the 2009 Birthday Honours. Among his final recordings was a 2010 reading of Berlioz's Te Deum with Susanna Mälkki conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Several of Preston's earlier recordings were reissued in the 2010s. Simon Preston died on May 13, 2022, at the age of 83. ~ Robert Cummings

A pioneering figure in the historical performance movement, conductor Christopher Hogwood became one of its most prominent figures and retained that status for many years. He was best known as the director of the Academy of Ancient Music, an ensemble that he founded in 1973 and that still exists, but he also conducted modern orchestras and was active in other fields as well, including teaching and musicology. Hogwood's recording catalog was vast, and his performances continued to appear in reissues after his death in 2014.

Hogwood was born on September 10, 1941, in Nottingham. He attended the Skinners' School and went on to Pembroke College at Oxford University. There, he studied music and classics, graduating in 1964. Even at that point, he was interested in early music, a rare specialty in those days, and he studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt and Rafael Puyana. Hogwood was also influenced by harpsichordist Thurston Dart and conductor Raymond Leppard (with whom he took conducting classes), both major figures in the budding early music scene. He spent a year in Prague on a British Council scholarship, studying with harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Back in Britain, Hogwood, with multi-instrumentalist David Munrow, Hogwood organized the Early Music Consort, which specialized in medieval music, in 1967. The earliest of Hogwood's many LP recordings date from this period. Hogwood struck out on his own in 1973 with a new group, the Academy of Ancient Music, located in Cambridge and specializing in music of the Baroque and Classical eras. He remained its director until 2006, and it is still flourishing under the directorship of Laurence Cummings. Hogwood took the name from an 18th century London music organization.

As the historical performance movement (Hogwood preferred the term "historically informed performance" to "authentic performance" or "historical performance") entered the musical mainstream, Hogwood was both prolific and popular. He issued eight recordings in 1984 alone, outdoing himself with nine in 1989. He and the Academy of Ancient Music often recorded for the Decca label in Britain and L'Oiseau-Lyre in France. Beginning in the early '80s, Hogwood branched out increasingly often into conducting orchestras with conventional instruments, often shaping his performances according to principles he had developed in the early music world. He combined Baroque works with 20th century neoclassic pieces by the likes of Stravinsky and Michael Tippett in concert.

In the U.S., Hogwood was music director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra from 1987 to 1992. In 1994, he conducted Boston's Handel and Haydn Society orchestra in a re-creation of the 1808 concert where Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 ("Pastoral") were premiered. Hogwood stepped down as conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music in 2006 in favor of Richard Egarr but remained as conductor emeritus and led new performances annually. He taught at Cornell University and at Gresham College London, delivering a series of free public lectures at the latter. His books include a popular biography of Handel. Hogwood made many performing editions of early music. He died of a brain tumor on September 24, 2014, in Cambridge. ~ James Manheim