Laurence Cummings
Laurence Cummings has amassed a large catalog of recordings both as a harpsichordist and, increasingly often during his later career, as a conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music and other ensembles. Known as a specialist in the music of Handel, he has also recorded music by many other Baroque composers.
Cummings was born in Birmingham, England, in 1968. He attended the Solihull School in the West Midlands and then went on to Christ Church College at Oxford University. His choice of a musical career was cemented as he attended the Royal College of Music in London, at first focusing on the harpsichord. Among his teachers was Jill Severs. Soon, Cummings was landing continuo slots with leading early music groups in Britain and beyond, including The Sixteen, Les Arts Florissants, and the Gabrieli Consort. He made his recording debut in 1995 as a solo harpsichordist, issuing an album of suites by Louis Couperin on the Naxos label. Cummings recorded several more albums of harpsichord music on Naxos in the late '90s and early 2000s.
In the new century, Cummings became increasingly interested in conducting. His album debut as a conductor came on the BIS label in 2001, with a recording of Handel's Gloria (rediscovered only that year) and Dixit Dominus, HWV 232. Cummings has conducted both early music groups, including The English Concert, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and conventional ensembles such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Ulster Orchestra, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia. His U.S. debut came with Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, and he has also conducted the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Cummings became artistic director of Germany's Göttingen International Handel Festival in 2011. He has conducted opera at the English National Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and many of his recordings in the 2010s, made for Accent and other labels, were of Handel operas or oratorios. From 1997 to 2012, Cummings was Head of Historical Performance at the Royal Academy of Music. He released a pair of albums in 2022, issuing a recording of Handel's opera Rodelinda, HWV 19, with the FestspielOrchester Göttingen on Accent, and backing countertenor Randall Scotting with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on The Crown: Heroic Arias for Senesino.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mozart: Piano Concertos
Academy of Ancient Music, Robert Levin, Laurence Cummings, Ya-Fei Chuang
Classical - Released by AAM Records on 3 Nov 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos No. 5 & Church Sonata No. 17
Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings, Bojan Čičić, Robert Levin
Chamber Music - Released by AAM Records on 23 Jun 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mr. Corelli in London: Recorder Concertos, La Follia, after Corelli's op.5
Maurice Steger, The English Concert, Laurence Cummings
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 13 Apr 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel's Last Prima Donna
Ruby Hughes, Laurence Cummings, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment
Mélodies - Released by Chandos on 23 Mar 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Esther, HWV 50b
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by SOMM Recordings on 5 Nov 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Requiem: Classical Music for Reflection and Meditation
Classical - Released by Naxos on 14 Jun 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Crown: Heroic Arias for Senesino
Randall Scotting, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, Laurence Cummings
Opera - Released by Signum Records on 2 Sep 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Full Anthems - Music on the Death of Queen Mary
Andrew Carwood, Michael McCarthy, Laurence Cummings, Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly
Classical - Released by Naxos on 13 Feb 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arias
Christophe Dumaux, Festspiel Orchester Gottingen, Laurence Cummings
Opera - Released by Accent on 17 Jan 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BAROQUE HARPSICHORD (THE ART OF THE)
Classical - Released by Naxos on 15 Jul 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Choral and Organ Music
Oxford Camerata, Laurence Cummings, Jeremy Summerly
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anachronistic Hearts: Haendel Arias
Héloise Mas, London Handel Orchestra, Laurence Cummings
Classical - Released by Muso on 14 May 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Susanna, HWV 66 (Live)
Classical - Released by Accent on 28 Oct 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, C.P.E.: Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin
Adrian Butterfield, Laurence Cummings
Classical - Released by ATMA Classique on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Counter-Tenor Duets and Song - Purcell and His Contemporaries
Ryland Angel, Mark Chambers, Laurence Cummings
Classical - Released by Deux-Elles Limited on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tomkins: Choral and Organ Works
Classical - Released by Naxos on 13 Sep 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Joshua, HWV 64
Classical - Released by Accent on 10 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel : Agrippina, HWV 6 (Live)
Opera - Released by Accent on 18 Sep 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: 8 Great Suites for Solo Harpsichord (HWV 426-433)
Classical - Released by SOMM Recordings on 11 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Con che soavità, SV 139
Randall Scotting, Laurence Cummings, Academy of Ancient Music
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Signum Records on 17 Oct 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
In Memoriam - Music for Solemn Occasions
Classical - Released by Naxos on 26 Jun 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo