Roger Norrington came from a musical family in Oxford, England and played the violin and sang from a young age. He studied History at Westminster School, and English Literature at Cambridge University, where he was a choral scholar. Several years' wide experience of top class amateur music making, while working as a publisher of scholarly books, ended with a return to musical studies at the Royal College of Music in London and the start of his professional career as a singer and conductor.

In 1962 he founded the Schütz Choir, which achieved eminence in its field and made many records. In 1969 he was invited to become music director of Kent Opera and, for 15 years, conducted over 400 performances of 40 different operas. In 1978 he founded the London Classical Players, to research original instrument performance from 1750 to 1900. The orchestra received enormous acclaim particularly for its recorded cycle of the Beethoven symphonies with EMI (still available today). Works by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wagner and Bruckner gave listeners an idea of how these pieces might have sounded in their own day.

During the 1980s and 1990s Norrington was much in demand as a guest conductor (as he still is today). He worked in Britain at Covent Garden and the English National Opera, with the BBC Symphony and the Philharmonia orchestras, and was Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Abroad he appears with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and in America New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles orchestras.

Since 1998 Norrington has been Chief Conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart. In both places he has established a historically aware style of playing which is very dear to his heart. This involves all the demands of early instrument orchestras, but in a "modern" context. Appropriate numbers of players, historical seating plans, bowing, phrasing, tempo and articulation are all employed, and absolutely crucial is the use of pure tone, without the addition of late 20 th century continuous vibrato.

The results have been startling. Both orchestras stand out from the crowd, and have won devoted followings in their home towns and abroad. In particular a whole series of recordings on the Hänssler label are giving other professionals, and the musical public, the chance to hear music as it was expected to sound by the great composers of the past. Norrington's new Beethoven cycle with Stuttgart has astonished its buyers. No less inspiring are records of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Elgar and Mahler, all with the same pure tone, expressive phrasing and transparent orchestral textures. Norrington often invites other orchestras to experiment with his historical aims. But at present the Camerata Salzburg and the RSO Stuttgart lead the field.

CLICK HERE to read an interview with Sir Roger.
CLICK HERE to view a seleted discography of Sir Roger Norrington.

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