John Eliot Gardiner

King's College London

Margaret Gardiner (aunt) Martin Bernal (cousin) Howard Hodgkin (cousin)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) 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 safekeeping during the Second World War. 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.

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. 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.

Returning to England, Gardiner joined the BBC Northern Orchestra as an apprentice conductor. 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. 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. |access-date=17 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821065746/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000638 |archive-date=21 August 2007 }}

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. | access-date = 17 May 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061203114818/http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/culture/opera_1/ |archive-date = 3 December 2006}} During his time with the Opéra National de Lyon, Gardiner was also artistic director of the Göttingen Handel Festival (1981 until 1990).{{citation | access-date = 17 May 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070615110324/http://www.haendel-festspiele.com/fck_uploads/History-Handel-Festival.pdf | archive-date = 15 June 2007

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. |access-date = 17 May 2007 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070426051855/http://www.monteverdiproductions.co.uk/about_us/bcp.cfm |archive-date = 26 April 2007
• 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. |access-date=17 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515004844/http://www.monteverdipilgrimage.co.uk/ |archive-date=15 May 2007 }}

Gardiner has recorded over 250 albums, most of which have been published by Deutsche Grammophon and Philips Classics, |access-date=17 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608230722/http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/about_us/jeg.cfm |archive-date= 8 June 2007 }} 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. | access-date = 17 May 2007 }} 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.' Gardiner has been the subject of various allegations of rudeness and bullying of performers and colleagues.{{cite web |access-date=15 March 2019 }}{{Cite web |title=The Heckler: why does John Eliot Gardiner have to be so rude?

In late 2012, citing health concerns, he cancelled his planned December 2013 tour of Australia with the Monteverdi Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. In 2013, Gardiner published the book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven. 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. 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.

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.

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. On 24 August 2023, Gardiner withdrew from all further engagements for 'a period of reflection and, in consultation with his medical advisors ... focusing on his mental health while engaging in a course of counselling'. 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.'

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.

Honours and awards

Gardiner has received a variety of honours and awards, | access-date = 17 May 2007}} including:

• Honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon, 1987
• Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), 1990 New Year Honours, for services to music
• Honorary Fellow of King's College, London and King's College, Cambridge
• Honorary Member of Royal Academy of Music, 1992
• Grammy, Best Choral Performance, 1994 |access-date=17 May 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155010/http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/Winners/Results.aspx?title=gardiner&winner=&year=0&genreID=0&hp=1 |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}
• Appointed Knight Bachelor, 1998 Birthday Honours, for services to music
• Grammy, Best Opera Recording, 1999
• Bach Medal, 2005
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2005 |access-date=5 December 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032000/http://www.shortnews.de/id/599605/sir-john-eliot-gardiner-erhaelt-bundesverdienstkreuz |archive-date= 4 March 2016 }}
• Doctorate Honoris Causa in Musicology at the University of Pavia in Cremona (birthplace of Claudio Monteverdi), 2006
• Bach Prize of the Royal Academy of Music-Kohn Foundation, 2008
• Voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012
• Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, 2011.
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the University of St Andrews, 2014
• National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography) shortlist for Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, 2014
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Cambridge, 2015
• Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, 2015
• Honorary doctorate from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, 2023

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. 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.

• Bach, Christmas Oratorio, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Anne Sofie von Otter et al. at Abbey Road Studios, 1987 (DG Archiv), nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, Motets, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists (DG Archiv)
• Bach, Complete Sacred Cantatas, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, (DG Archiv), winner Gramophone's 2005 Record of the Year and Special Achievement Award (2011), nominated two Grammy Awards Best Choral Performance
• Bach, Mass in B minor recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists (DG Archiv), nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, St John Passion, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, 1986 (DG Archiv), nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, St Matthew Passion, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists and Anne Sofie von Otter, 1985 (DG Archiv), nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Beethoven, Missa solemnis, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, 1990 (DG Archiv), winner of Choral Gramophone Classical Music Award and 1991 Gramophone Record of the Year
• Berlioz, Messe solennelle, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, 1994 (Philips), winner of Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Berlioz, Les Troyens, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, 2004 (DVD, BBC Opus Arte), winner of Gramophone DVD of the Year
• Berlioz Rediscovered: Symphonie Fantastique, Messe solennelle, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, 2018 (Decca), winner of France's 2019 Lex Grands Prix internationaux Du DVD
• Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Charlotte Margiono and Rodney Gilfry, 1990 (Philips)
• Handel, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, recorded with the Monteverdi Orchestra and Choir, 1980 (Erato), winner of Gramophone Classical Music Award
• Handel, Dixit Dominus and Coronation Anthem no. 1, recorded with the Monteverdi Orchestra and Choir 1978 (Erato), winner of Gramophone Award
• Handel, Jephtha, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lynne Dawson et al., 1988 (Philips) nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Handel, Messiah, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Catherine Robbin, Margaret Marshall, and Anthony Rolfe Johnson, 1983 (Philips)
• Handel, Solomon, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Carolyn Watkinson, Nancy Argenta, Barbara Hendricks, Anthony Rolfe Johnson et al., 1985 (Philips)
• Haydn, Die Schöpfung, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Gerald Finley, Michael Schade and Rodney Gilfry, 1996 (DG Archiv), winner of Choral Gramophone Classical Music Award, nominated Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Leclair, Scylla et Glaucus, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, 1988 (Erato), winner of Gramophone Classical Music Award
• Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea, recorded with the English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Anne Sofie von Otter et al., 1996 (DG Archiv), winner of 1997 German Record Critics' Award
• Monteverdi, L'Orfeo, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Julianne Baird, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lynne Dawson, Nancy Argenta et al., 1985 (DG Archiv)
• Monteverdi, Vespro Della Beata Vergine, recorded live with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra at St. Jude on the Hill, 1974 (Decca)
• Monteverdi, Vespro Della Beata Vergine, recorded live with the Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, Bryn Terfel et al. at St Mark's Basilica, 1989 (DG Archiv)
• Mozart, Don Giovanni, live recording with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Rodney Gilfrey, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Charlotte Margiono, Christoph Prégardien, Ľuba Orgonášová et al., 1995 (DG, Archiv), nominated for Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
• Mozart, Great Mass in C Minor with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Cornelius Hauptmann et al., 1986 (Philips)
• Mozart, Idomeneo, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Anne Sofie von Otter et al. (DG Archiv), winner of Gramophone Classical Music Award, nominated for Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
• Mozart, The Marriage of Figaro, live recording with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, Bryn Terfel, Rodney Gilfry, Hillevi Martinpelto, Alison Hagley et al. 1994 (DG, Archiv)
• Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and London Symphony Orchestra, Bryn Terfel, Anne Sofie von Otter et al., 1999 (DG), winner of Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording

Personal life

Gardiner is the son of the British rural revivalist and Nazi sympathizer Rolf Gardiner (1902–1971), 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.

Gardiner was married to violinist Elizabeth Wilcock from 1981 to 1997; they have three daughters, including screenwriter and showrunner Francesca Gardiner. From 2001 to 2019, he was married to Isabella de Sabata, granddaughter of conductor Victor de Sabata. | archive-url = https://archive.md/20061001005915/http://www.audio-muziek.nl/interviews/gardiner01_interview.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 1 October 2006 | access-date = 17 May 2007

In his spare time, Gardiner runs a farm at Springhead near Fontmell Magna 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.

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.

Selected publications

• {{cite book

References

References

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2. (29 April 2015). "Bach Portrait Returns to Leipzig". [[The Guardian]].
3. "John Eliot Gardiner", in ''Contemporary Musicians'' (1999), Detroit: Gale
4. (2015). "Bach : Music in the Castle of Heaven". Knopf.
5. Whenham, John. (1997). "Monteverdi, Vespers (1610)". Cambridge University Press.
6. Gardiner. 2015
7. "The Monteverdi Choir at 50".
8. "English Baroque Soloists".
9. Peter Quantrill. (October 2008). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Interview". gramophone.co.uk.
10. Melissa Lesnie. (19 October 2012). "John Eliot Gardiner pulls out of ACO Christmas concerts".
11. (2013). "Bach a Biography Through the Music.". Penguin Books, Limited.
12. Smith, Charlotte. (2013). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner named president". [[Gramophone (magazine).
13. "A New President for The Leipzig Bach Archive {{!}} Bach-Archiv Leipzig".
14. [https://www.bach333.com/en/ ''Bach 333'' website] (26 October 2018)
15. (22 November 2013). "Bach: A Passionate Life". [[BBC Two]].
16. (26 August 2023). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner withdraws from show 'after slapping singer'". [[The Times]].
17. (31 August 2023). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner pulls out of scheduled concerts after punching chorus singer".
18. (23 August 2023). "Festival Berlioz : Sir John Eliot Gardiner quitte La Côte-Saint-André après une altercation avec un chanteur".
19. (23 August 2023). "Famed Conductor Accused of Striking Singer at Performance". [[The New York Times]].
20. (24 August 2023). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner: Famed conductor pulls out of the Proms after alleged assault". BBC News.
21. (31 August 2023). "Conductor who allegedly slapped singer pulls out of all 2023 performances". The Guardian.
22. "Sir John Eliot Gardiner cancels the rest of 2023".
23. (24 July 2024). "John Eliot Gardiner leaves Monteverdi Choir and Orchestras after assault allegation". The Guardian.
24. (September 2024). "World-class conductor fired for slapping singer sets up comeback choir". [[The Times]].
25. United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette. (12 June 1998)
26. {{London Gazette. (14 September 1999)
27. (22 April 2005). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner erhält Leipziger Bach-Medaille". [[Neue Musikzeitung]].
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31. (14 January 2014). "Announcing the National Book Critics Awards Finalists for Publishing Year 2013". National Book Critics Circle.
32. (16 July 2015). "British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed".
33. (16 January 2023). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner Awarded Honorary Doctorate by Liszt Academy".
34. "Sir John Eliot Gardiner – Dirigent". Musikstadt Luzern.
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39. Pepper, David. (2005). "Modern environmentalism: an introduction". Routledge.
40. Battle, Laura. (30 March 2017). "Conductor John Eliot Gardiner on his love of music and farming". [[Financial Times]].
41. (24 August 2023). "Sir John Eliot Gardiner: who is the conductor and what are his most famous recordings?".
42. (3 December 2024). "Who Is Francesca Gardiner: Harry Potter TV Series Writer's Life, Plan".
43. (4 August 2019). "A maestro marriage is over".
44. "a rural centre for creative and sustainable living in Fontmell Magna Dorset". Springhead Trust.
45. (19 March 2020). "With Compliments". geoffrey-gibson.com.
46. (7 August 2014). "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories | Politics". theguardian.com.