Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox was one of the most active and well-known conductors in Britain, with a strong international reputation, especially for performing music of his native country. He began conducting at the age of 16 and, after studies at the Royal College of Music and Queen's College, where he was an organ scholar, he founded the City of London Sinfonia in 1971, of which he remained musical director until his death.
In 1972 he became organist and master of music at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, remaining in that position until 1982. In 1977 he was appointed conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and in 1982 became the music director of the Northern Sinfonia in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He is credited with re-establishing that orchestra as an ensemble of stature, confirmed by a highly successful tour of the United States and a complete Beethoven symphony recording cycle for the ASV label. He was associate conductor of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra from 1982 to 1985, and took the same title at the London Symphony Orchestra in 1985. He shared leadership duties with Simon Standage for Collegium Musicum 90, a period-instrument group the two founded.
All this activity made Hickox a very familiar face on the British music scene. With his various choral and orchestral ensembles he frequently appeared at the major British music festivals and at the BBC Proms Concerts. He participated in several notable special projects, including a BBC video production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and an appearance in the Istanbul Festival leading a production of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio inside the actual sultans' seraglio in the Topkapi Museum. He also provided music for a Ken Russell film for the BBC on the wives of great composers.
In the 1990s he increased his involvement with opera, leading new productions of Handel's Julius Caesar in Berlin, Walton's Troilus and Cressida in a live BBC broadcast of an Opera North production, and Vaughan Williams' Pilgrim's Progress at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He conducted a televised production of Britten's Turn of the Screw on the BBC in 2004.
He guest conducted around the world, including frequent appearances with the Los Angeles Opera and the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo. He made over 300 recordings and won numerous awards, including a Gramophon Award in 1992 for his account of Britten's War Requiem, and three Gramophone Awards, a Diapason d'Or, the Deutsche Schalplattenpreis, and a Grammy for his recording of Britten's Peter Grimes in 1995 on the Chandos label, probably the most honored classical recording of the last quarter of the twentieth century. His recordings appeared on the ASV, Argo, EMI, and Virgin labels, and in the early '90s he had been an exclusive Chandos artist. More recording awards were received in 2001 and 2006 for the music of Vaughan Williams and Stanford, respectively. In 2005, he was appointed director of the Opera Australia. Hickox died of a heart attack following a recording session in Wales in November 2008.
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Bridge: Orchestral Works, The Collector's Edition
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jul 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tippett: The Rose Lake & Ritual Dances
Richard Hickox, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar & Walton: Violin Concertos
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra
Lounge - Released by Collins Classics on Feb 19, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carwithen: Concerto for Piano and Strings, Bishop Rock, ODTAA & Suffolk Suite
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Alcina, HWV 34
Richard Hickox, Arleen Auger, Della Jones, City Of London Baroque Sinfonia
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Nov 1, 1993
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: The Poisoned Kiss
Full Operas - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2003
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Britten: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jul 1, 1993
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Vaughan Williams: 5 Tudor Portraits & Variants of Dives & Lazarus
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Jean Rigby, John Shirley-Quirk, London Symphony Chorus
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: War Requiem, Sinfonia da Requiem & Ballad of Heroes
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stanford: Songs of the Fleet, Songs of the Sea & A Ballad of the Fleet
Richard Hickox, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Gerald Finley, BBC National Chorus of Wales
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2006
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Webber: Invocation
Richard Hickox, City Of London Sinfonia, Julian Lloyd Webber, Tasmin Little, Westminster Singers
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on May 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Paulus
Sacred Oratorios - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Grainger Edition, Vol. 1 - Orchestral Works
Richard Hickox, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Sep 1, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tippett: Symphonies Nos. 1-4 & New Year Suite
Richard Hickox, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Faye Robinson
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 1995
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sullivan: Symphony in E Major, In memoriam & Suite from The Tempest
Richard Hickox, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Dies natalis, Clarinet Concerto & Farewell to Arms
Martyn Hill, Michael Collins, City Of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Sep 17, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Symphony No. 1 & Violin Concerto No. 3
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Lydia Mordkovitch
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2000
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Poulenc Gloria Stabat Mater
Richard Hickox, City Of London Sinfonia
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Overture to The Wasps & A Sea Symphony
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Susan Gritton, Gerald Finley, London Symphony Chorus
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2007
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Carwithen: ODTAA, Piano Concerto, Bishop Rock & Suffolk Suite
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shelley
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 1997
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arnold: The Film Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold, Vol. 1
Richard Hickox, London Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo