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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Mozart: Violin Concertos
Gil Shaham, SWR Symphonieorchester, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 4 Feb 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: St. John Passion, BWV 245
Cantata Collective, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 2 Jun 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias
Avery Amereau, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by Philharmonia Baroque Productions on 3 Apr 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Concerti grossi, Op. 6 & Concerto "Alexander's Feast"
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 3 Feb 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: A Tribute
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Freiburger Barockorchester, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 9 Aug 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Violin Concertos
Elizabeth Blumenstock, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by Philharmonia Baroque Productions on 11 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 1
Sherezade Panthaki, Reginald Mobley, Nicholas McGegan, Cantata Collective, William Skeen
Classical - Released by Centaur Records, Inc. on 11 Feb 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Caroline Shaw: Is a Rose - The Listeners
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Classical - Released by Philharmonia Baroque Productions on 3 Apr 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Les nuits d'été, Op. 7 - Handel: Arias (Live)
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Opera - Released by Philharmonia Baroque Productions on 8 Mar 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concertos and Sinfonias
Nicholas McGegan, Capella Savaria
Concertos - Released by Hungaroton on 1 Jan 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Opera Arias, Vol. 1: Arias for Senesino
Drew Minter, Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Opera - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Dec 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Dettingen Te Deum, HWV 283
FestspielOrchester Göttingen, NDR-Chor, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by Carus on 1 Oct 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 2
Cantata Collective, Reginald Mobley, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by Centaur Records, Inc. on 4 Aug 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Mass in B Minor, BWV 232 (Live)
Cantata Collective, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by AVIE Records on 22 Mar 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi for Diverse Instruments (Antonio Vivaldi)
Classical - Released by Reference Recordings CD on 8 Jul 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
With Charming Notes (Purcell & Blow: Songs and Instrumental Music)
Nicholas McGegan, Christine Brandes, The Arcadian Academy, Mary Springfels
Mélodies - Released by harmonia mundi on 10 Feb 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hommage à Trois
Nicholas McGegan, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, William Berger
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1 Jan 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 88, 101 "Clock" & 104 "London" (Live)
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by Philharmonia Baroque Productions on 14 Jun 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mysliveček: Complete Music for Keyboard
Clare Hammond, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan
Classical - Released by BIS on 29 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias for Durastanti
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Opera - Released by harmonia mundi on 7 Jul 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Giustino (Nicholas McGegan)
Opera - Released by harmonia mundi on 9 Nov 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo