Nicholas McGegan
Nicholas McGegan has done more for the early music movement in America than nearly anyone else, and his tireless explorations of the byways of Baroque opera have put many fascinating works into the concert hall and onto recordings. Although he is primarily identified with Handel, he has played repertoire stretching into the 19th century and has brought the same sense of fun to all of it. McGegan served as the music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for 34 seasons, taking on the role of music director laureate in 2020. McGegan, leading the SWR Symphonieorchester, backed Gil Shaham on a recording of music for violin and orchestra by Mozart in 2022.
McGegan was born on January 14, 1950, in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England. He studied piano at London's Trinity College of Music and learned to play the flute while he was there but entertained no special desire to study historical performance. When he entered Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, however, one of the courses required for a music degree was Professor Nicholas Shackleton's acoustics class. This course often met in the professor's home, which contained both a large collection of 18th century wind instruments and a tenant named Christopher Hogwood. Hogwood, of course, was then one of the leading lions of the period-instrument Baroque movement in England, so McGegan could not have been in a better position to learn about it. Although he had been studying 20th century music, one day he picked up a Baroque wooden flute and never looked back. During the 1970s, McGegan became one of the bright lights of England's starry period-instrument scene, playing the flute, harpsichord, and fortepiano with all the major period instrument groups in England, especially Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music. He became director of early music at the Royal College of Music in London in 1976.
In 1979, McGegan made the fateful decision to accept a three-month artist-in-residence position at Washington University in St. Louis. His teaching and performance caused quite a stir there, and numerous renewals of his initial term followed. In 1985, McGegan became music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, which had been a players' cooperative without a leader. The ensemble still places a premium on collaboration and creativity under McGegan's direction. It has become the finest period-instrument group in America and one of the finest in the world since McGegan took it over, making numerous recordings under his direction.
One of the international positions this very busy conductor held was as artistic director of the Gottingen Handel Festival from 1991 until 2011, the oldest festival for Baroque music in the world. He has also spread the ideas of historically informed practice in his work with groups around the world, such as Hungary's Capella Savaria, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic, among many others. He has also worked with opera companies, including Covent Garden and San Francisco. McGegan also founded the Arcadian Academy, a chamber offshoot of the Philharmonia Baroque, and has served as the Baroque series director for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and as an advisory board member for the University of Maryland Handel Festival and London's Handel House. In his pursuit of reviving Baroque works, he's collaborated with dancer Mark Morris to present Rameau's Platée at the Edinburgh Festival and Handel's L'Allegro at Ravinia and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York.
Despite, or perhaps because of, his academic credentials and background in period performance, McGegan's performances exemplify joy and fun rather than sober scholarship. He has compared the Philharmonia Baroque to a "jazz band" in terms of its ability to play together and play with spirit, and the comparison rings true when listening to the group, or, indeed, any of McGegan's performances. In 2019, he was heard on the BIS album Josef Myslivecek: Complete Music for Keyboard, with pianist Clare Hammond. McGegan remained in his role with the Philharmonia Baroque until 2020 when he stepped into his new role as music director laureate. In 2022, McGegan conducted the SWR Symphonieorchester on a recording of Mozart's violin concertos with violinist Gil Shaham.
© Andrew Lindemann Malone & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Schumann, R.: Dichterliebe, Op. 48 / Liederkreis, Op. 39 / Lieder
Paul Esswood, Nicholas McGegan
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Hungaroton le 15 juill. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Händel: Serse
Classique - Paru chez Conifer Classics le 4 août 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Before Mozart: Early Horn Concertos
Alec Frank-Gemmill, Svenska Kammarorkestern, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 23 mars 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Arne: Alfred
Classique - Paru chez Deutsche Harmonia Mundi le 13 juill. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 - Symbolum Nicenum (Credo): XVIII. Et resurrexit
Cantata Collective, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez AVIE Records le 23 févr. 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: The Cecilian Vespers
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Avie Records le 11 janv. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Il Combattimento Di Tancredi E Clorinda / Madrigals
Guy de Mey, Martin Klietmann, Mária Zádori, Jozsef Gregor, Capella Savaria, Nicholas McGegan
Opéra - Paru chez Hungaroton le 15 juill. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias for Cuzzoni
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, Lisa Saffer
Opéra - Paru chez harmonia mundi le 1 juill. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Serenades, Opp. 16 & 11 (Live)
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Philharmonia Baroque Productions le 27 août 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti, A.: Cantatas Vol. II
Classique - Paru chez Conifer Classics le 1 janv. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Cantatas Vol. III
Classique - Paru chez Deutsche Harmonia Mundi le 1 nov. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Italian Baroque Violin Sonatas (Nicola Matteis: "Ayres for the Violin," Vol.1)
Nicholas McGegan, The Arcadian Academy
Trios - Paru chez harmonia mundi le 14 avr. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Acis und Galatea, HWV 49
FestspielOrchester Göttingen, NDR-Chor, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Carus le 1 sept. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphony No. 5 and Works for Violin & Orchestra
Capella Savaria, Zsolt Kallo, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Hungaroton le 4 nov. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti: Cantatas Vol. III
Classique - Paru chez Deutsche Harmonia Mundi le 1 nov. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pelham Humfrey: Verse Anthems (Nicholas McGegan)
Messes, Passions, Requiems - Paru chez harmonia mundi le 8 déc. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kraus: Szimfóniák és hegedűverseny (Symphonies and Violin Concerto)
Capella Savaria, Zsolt Kallo, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Hungaroton le 4 avr. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: The Complete Works for Violin & Orchestra
Zsolt Kallo, Capella Savaria, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Hungaroton le 14 juill. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Händel: Serse
Classique - Paru chez Conifer Classics le 4 août 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rameau: Platée Et Dardanus Suites
Musique de scène - Paru chez Deutsche Harmonia Mundi le 4 mars 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Serenades
Capella Savaria, Nicholas McGegan
Classique - Paru chez Hungaroton le 21 août 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo