Andrew Arthur enjoys a reputation throughout Europe and the USA as a musician of exceptional versatility. Equally at home as a conductor, keyboard soloist, ensemble player and teacher, he combines all of these disciplines within his position as Director of Music and Fellow-Commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. An acknowledged specialist in the music of the Baroque and Classical periods, Andrew is highly regarded on the concert platform.
He is Associate Director of The Hanover Band; recent directorial engagements have included a UK chamber music tour for ‘Music in the Round’, five performances of J.S. Bach's St John Passion, a programme of solo cantatas in Ludlow and Hampton Court Palace with countertenor William Towers, Bach’s Six Motets in Kingston Parish Church, and an orchestral tour of concerti and suites by Bach and Telemann including appearances in the Festival des Cathedrales de Picardie, Amiens, France and the Brighton Early Music Festival. Future plans include directing a complete series of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti and a performance of Handel's Messiah in Chichester Cathedral as part of the King James Bible 400th Anniversary celebrations. Andrew has also worked with the Band as a Principal soloist and continuo-player since 2000. Highlights include performances of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, Haydn's Harpsichord Concerto in D, Handel’s Organ Concerto ‘The Cuckoo and the Nightingale’ and numerous performances of Bach's Harpsichord Concerti and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.
In 2006, Andrew was announced as the Principal Conductor of the Euterpe Baroque Consort based in Antwerp, Belgium, with whom he regularly broadcasts on live radio for KLARA. Recent concert engagements include Biber's Missa Bruxellensis, Vivaldi's Stabat Mater, Le Quattro Stagioni and seven performances of Monteverdi's Vespro de la Beata Virgine 1610, including appearances at the prestigious Festival van Vlaanderen and Klara in het Paleis. He is also Musical Director of his own period-instrument ensemble and vocal consort, Orpheus Britannicus with whom he continues to explore chamber, vocal and choral repertoire from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Recent projects have included Handel’s Coronation Anthems with the London-based Chandos Chamber Choir (of whom he was Musical Director from 2002-2010), three contrasting choral programmes of seventeenth-century English verse anthems, German Romantic Motets and music by S.S. Wesley, together with instrumental programmes of J.S. Bach’s chamber music and Music from Georgian England.
Andrew’s solo keyboard engagements encompass organ, harpsichord and fortepiano literature. Alongside his regular appearances as a recitalist and concerto soloist, he remains in great demand as a continuo player with several of London’s leading period-instrument ensembles, working under such renowned conductors as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nicholas Kraemer, Bruno Weil and the late Sir Charles Mackerras. He has also worked regularly in partnership with the eminent baroque violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch, engagements with whom include performances in the USA of J.S. Bach's complete works for violin and harpsichord and Biber's 'Mystery' sonatas, together with appearances in the UK at the Suffolk Villages Festival, Conway Hall, Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, and the Wigmore Hall. He holds the position of Principal Organist & Harpsichordist at the Carmel Bach Festival in California, where he also sits on the Committee of Artistic Directors, and is currently involved in performing a complete cycle of J.S. Bach’s organ works and in directing a series of J.S. Bach's complete cantatas for solo voice. Over the last decade, his appearances as player, conductor and lecturer at the festival have been met with considerable critical acclaim.
Andrew appears frequently on Television and Radio broadcasts, and has played on numerous CD and DVD recordings for the BBC, ASV, Soli Deo Gloria, Opera Rara, Griffin and Priory Records, all of which have been met with enthusiastic praise in the musical Press. In 2007, he toured the UK performing the complete organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude, marking the composer's tercentenary year. As a conclusion to this tour, he recorded his most recent solo release: a double-CD entitled ‘The Buxtehude Influence’ – the first recording to be made on the fine Danish organ by Carsten Lund at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Alongside his busy concert and teaching schedule, Andrew maintains a strong commitment to liturgical music, an interest nurtured initially through his early training as a Cathedral chorister and subsequently as organ scholar and Acting Precentor at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. From 2000-2008, Andrew held the position of Associate Director of Music at the world-famous Butterfield Church of All Saints, Margaret Street, in London’s West End. At present, in addition to his on-going work with the Chapel Choir at Trinity Hall, Andrew can be seen most Sunday mornings throughout the year either playing the organ or directing the professional choir at the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula, HM Tower of London.
|
