Sir John Eliot Gardiner is recognised as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, constantly in the vanguard of enlightened interpretation and standing as a leader in contemporary musical life. His work, as founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir (MC), English Baroque Soloists (EBS) and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR), has marked him out as a key figure both in the early music revival and as a pioneer of historically informed performances.
He is a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and his two orchestras perform regularly at the world's major venues and festivals, including Salzburg, Berlin and Lucerne festivals, Lincoln Center and the BBC Proms where Gardiner has performed over 60 times since his debut in 1968. In 2017 they celebrated the 450th anniversary of the birth of Monteverdi, for which they were awarded the RPS Music Award and Gardiner named Conductor of the Year at the Opernwelt Awards. He has received more Gramophone awards than any other living artist.
Gardiner has conducted opera at the Wiener Staatsoper, Zürich Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Opéra Comique, Paris and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he has appeared regularly since his debut in 1973. He was artistic director of the Opéra de Lyon from 1983 to 1988, where he founded its in-house orchestra. He was installed as the first President of the Bach Archive in Leipzig from 2014-2019.
Gardiner's book, MUSIC IN THE CASTLE OF HEAVEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, was published in 2013, leading to the Prix des Muses award (Singer-Polignac).
Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Sir John Eliot Gardiner holds honorary doctorates from the Royal College of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, the universities of Lyon, Paris, Pavia, St Andrews and Cambridge where he himself studied. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy and of both King's College Cambridge and King’s College London. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, who awarded him their prestigious Bach Prize in 2008. He became the inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard University in 2014/15 and was awarded the Concertgebouw Prize in January 2016.
Gardiner was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2011 and was given the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. In the UK, he was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1990 and awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honour. In 2019 he was made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the government of Italy.
He is a regular guest of the world’s leading symphony orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir and his two orchestras perform regularly at the world's major venues and festivals, including Salzburg, Berlin and Lucerne festivals, Lincoln Center and the BBC Proms where Gardiner has performed over 60 times since his debut in 1968. In 2017 they celebrated the 450th anniversary of the birth of Monteverdi, for which they were awarded the RPS Music Award and Gardiner named Conductor of the Year at the Opernwelt Awards. He has received more Gramophone awards than any other living artist.
Gardiner has conducted opera at the Wiener Staatsoper, Zürich Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Opéra Comique, Paris and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he has appeared regularly since his debut in 1973. He was artistic director of the Opéra de Lyon from 1983 to 1988, where he founded its in-house orchestra. He was installed as the first President of the Bach Archive in Leipzig from 2014-2019.
Gardiner's book, MUSIC IN THE CASTLE OF HEAVEN: A PORTRAIT OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, was published in 2013, leading to the Prix des Muses award (Singer-Polignac).
Among numerous awards in recognition of his work, Sir John Eliot Gardiner holds honorary doctorates from the Royal College of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, the universities of Lyon, Paris, Pavia, St Andrews and Cambridge where he himself studied. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy and of both King's College Cambridge and King’s College London. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, who awarded him their prestigious Bach Prize in 2008. He became the inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Harvard University in 2014/15 and was awarded the Concertgebouw Prize in January 2016.
Gardiner was made Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2011 and was given the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005. In the UK, he was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1990 and awarded a knighthood for his services to music in the 1998 Queen’s Birthday Honour. In 2019 he was made a Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the government of Italy.
