Andrew Manze

Andrew Manze is “a violinist with extraordinary flair and improvisatory freedom” (BBC Music Magazine), “the first modern superstar of the baroque violin” (San Francisco Examiner).

As a player, he specializes in repertoire from 1610 to 1830; as a conductor, he is much in demand among both period- and modern-instrument orchestras around the world. He also teaches, edits music, contributes articles to numerous periodicals, and broadcasts regularly on radio and television. He is a presenter on BBC Radio’s new Early Music Show.

A Cambridge Classicist by training, Andrew Manze studied the violin with Simon Standage and Marie Leonhardt. He was Associate Director of The Academy of Ancient Music from 1996 to 2003, and succeeded Trevor Pinnock as Artistic Director of The English Concert in July of that year. He is also Artist-in-residence at the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In his new role at The English Concert, Andrew will move into Classical repertoire, including Mozart’s violin concertos, orchestral works and reorchestrations of Handel’s oratorios, while continuing to perform baroque repertoire. 2003 saw his debut tour of the UK with The English Concert, a televized concert at the London Proms and a filmed reconstruction of Handel’s Water Music on the River Thames for the BBC. In their first prize-winning recording together, Manze led The English Concert in a dazzling Mozart program, including Eine kleine Nachtmusik (hmu 907280).

Andrew Manze is also active as a guest conductor in large-scale oratorio and symphonic repertoire, with symphony, chamber and period-instrument orchestras in Europe, the US and Australia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, London; his cadenzas to Mozart’s violin concertos were recently published by Breitkopf & Ha?rtel.

Manze records exclusively for harmonia mundi usa and has released an astonishing variety of CDs. Recordings made with the trio Romanesca (Biber, Schmelzer, Vivaldi), The Academy of Ancient Music (including Bach violin concertos, Geminiani and Handel concerti grossi), and as a soloist (Telemann, Tartini), have garnered many international prizes: the Gramophone, Edison and Cannes Classical Awards, the Premio Internazionale del Disco Antonio Vivaldi and the Diapason d’Or—each of them twice. Since 1984 his collaboration with Richard Egarr has been setting new standards. Their discography includes sonatas by Rebel and Bach (both awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) and Pandolfi’s complete Violin Sonatas (Gramophone Award, 2000). Their recording of the complete Violin Sonatas of Handel was nominated for a 2003 Grammy ® Award, and figured in the US Billboard ® Chart. Their previous release, Corelli’s Sonatas Op.5, has received unanimous rave reviews, was Gramophone’s Recording of the Month and won the 2003 Prix Caecilia. Their next release will be of Mozart sonatas.