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The outstanding English harpsichordist and conductor, Trevor (David) Pinnock, became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral when he was 7. After receiving instruction in piano and organ, he served as a church organist. At 19, he entered the Royal College of Music in London, where he took courses in organ and later harpsichord. While still a student, he organized the Gailliard Harpsichord Trio (1966). He also toured Europe with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields.
In 1973 Trevor Pinnock founded the English Concert, an ensemble devoted to the performance of early music of the 17th and 18th Centuuries on original instruments. Through numerous tours and recordings, his ensemble acquired an international reputation, but most importantly have won a huge international following for the exceptional quality and the irresistible enthusiasm of their concert performances. He toured North America with it for the first time in 1983. In September 1988, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in New York conducting Giulio Cesare. In 1989 he founded the Classical Band of New York, which he led in performances of the Classical repertoire from Haydn to Felix Mendelssohn on period instruments until resigning unexpectedly in 1990.
In 1991 Pinnock was named artistic director and principal conductor of the National Arts Celntre Orchestra (NACO) in Ottawa. In 1995 he conducted it on a critically acclaimed tour of Europe. In 1996 he stepped down from his post but served as its artistic advisor during the 1996-1997 season. In 1993 was made an honorary Doctor of Music at Ottowa University.
The international orchestras with whom Trevor Pinncok has appeared recently include the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, NACO, Mozarteum Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Vienna Philharmonic. Trevor Pinnock has also appeared throughout Europe in duo recitals with the violinist Maxim Vengerov. His other chamber music partners include violinists Rachel Podger and Catherine Manson; cellists/gambists Jordi Savall, Roland Pidoux and Jonathan Manson; flautists Jean-Pierre Rampal, Stephen Preston and Emmanuel Pahud.
Trevor Pinnock also pursued a distinguished career as a harpsichord virtuoso. Firmly established as one of the world's leading figures in this area, his solo recordings include the complete keyboard works of Rameau, Scarlatti sonatas, George Frideric Handel's harpsichord suites and J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) and complete Partitas. As a soloist he has recorded the Bach harpsichord concerti and the Haydn Piano Concerto directing The English Concert. He also recorded Francis Poulenc Harpsichord Concerto with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His recordings as a director of the English Concert includes also G.F. Handel's Messiah, and the complete symphonies of W.A. Mozart.
Trevor Pinnock was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1992.
Trevor Pinnock is a member of an international group of musicians who, from the 1960’s onwards, have worked to establish the artistic criteria of "historically informed" performance practices, using original editions and modern research facilities to recreate the techniques and performing styles is use when the music was written. His experience has been brought to bear on the training and development of instrumentalists and singers in the music of Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart and less-well-known composers whose works are now being assessed in the light of Baroque and early Classical performance conventions. |
