Sir John Eliot Gardiner was born on April 20, 1943. He is an English conductor who is well known for performing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He led a special project in 2000 called the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. During this project, he performed Bach's church cantatas in the order used in church services at churches across Europe and in New York City. He worked with the Monteverdi Choir and recorded the performances at those locations.

Life and career

Gardiner was born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset. His parents were Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin. He learned to sing by performing with his family and in a local church choir. As a child, he lived with a famous painting of J. S. Bach, which his parents had borrowed for safety during World War II. He taught himself to play the violin and began studying conducting at age 15. He attended Bryanston School and later studied history at King's College, Cambridge, where his teacher was Edmund Leach, a social anthropologist.

While studying at Cambridge, he began his conducting career by performing Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine in King's College Chapel on March 5, 1964. This performance led to the founding of the Monteverdi Choir, with which he made his London conducting debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1966. While at Cambridge, he also led the Oxford and Cambridge Singers on a tour of the Middle East. After graduating, Gardiner continued his music studies at King's College London with Thurston Dart and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, a composer who had influenced him early in life.

Gardiner joined the BBC Northern Orchestra as an apprentice conductor. In 1968, he founded the Monteverdi Orchestra. In 1977, he changed the orchestra’s name to the English Baroque Soloists after switching to period instruments. In 1969, he made his opera debut with The Magic Flute at the English National Opera. In 1973, he conducted Iphigénie en Tauride at Covent Garden. The English Baroque Soloists performed Acis and Galatea at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music in 1977. His American debut was in 1979, when he conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with soloist Robert Hale in a performance of Messiah. He later became the lead conductor of Canada's CBC Vancouver Orchestra from 1980 to 1983.

After leaving the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Gardiner moved to France. From 1983 to 1988, he was the music director of the Opéra National de Lyon, where he created a new orchestra. During this time, he also led the Göttingen Handel Festival from 1981 to 1990. In 1989, the Monteverdi Choir celebrated its 25th anniversary with a worldwide tour, performing works like Israel in Egypt and Magnificat. In 1990, Gardiner formed the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique to perform 19th-century music. From 1991 to 1995, he was principal conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Gardiner founded the Monteverdi Choir (1964), the English Baroque Soloists (1978), and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (1989). From the 1990s onward, he toured globally with his ensembles, including:
– A 1993 European tour with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, which included Berlioz’s Messe solennelle, performed in Bremen, Germany, and recorded in Westminster Cathedral, London.
– A 2000 tour called the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, during which he performed all of Bach’s sacred cantatas in churches across Europe and the United States over 52 weeks.
– A 2004 tour in France and Spain with the Monteverdi Choir, performing pieces from the Codex Calixtinus in cathedrals along the Camino de Santiago.

Gardiner has recorded over 250 albums, most with Deutsche Grammophon, Philips Classics, and Soli Deo Gloria. He is best known for performing Baroque music on period instruments with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, though he has also conducted Classical and Romantic works with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, including Berlioz and Beethoven. A recording of Beethoven’s Third Symphony was used in a BBC dramatization of its creation. He has led major orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. Gardiner has refused to perform Richard Wagner’s music, stating in a 2008 interview that he dislikes Wagner’s work and values. He has faced claims of being rude or harsh to performers and colleagues.

In late 2012, Gardiner canceled a planned tour of Australia due to health concerns. In 2013, he published Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven and narrated the BBC documentary Bach: A Passionate Life. In 2014, he became president of the Leipzig Bach Archive, a role he held until 2019. During his presidency, the archive collaborated on the Bach 333 box set, which includes all of Bach’s recorded works, released in 2018.

Gardiner conducted the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in a pre-service concert at Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Charles III. In August 202

Honours and awards

Gardiner has been given many honors and awards, including:

• An honorary doctorate from the University of Lyon in 1987
• Named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1990 New Year Honours for services to music
• Honorary Fellow of King's College, London and King's College, Cambridge
• Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in 1992
• A Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 1994
• Named Knight Bachelor in the 1998 Birthday Honours for services to music
• A Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1999
• The Bach Medal in 2005
• The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2005
• A Doctorate Honoris Causa in Musicology from the University of Pavia in Cremona, the birthplace of Claudio Monteverdi, in 2006
• The Bach Prize from the Royal Academy of Music – Kohn Foundation in 2008
• Inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012
• Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2011
• An honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of St Andrews in 2014
• A shortlist nomination for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Biography) for Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven in 2014
• An honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Cambridge in 2015
• Honorary Fellow of the British Academy in 2015
• An honorary doctorate from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 2023.

Notable recordings

Gardiner is best known for recording choral and operatic music from the Baroque and early Classical eras. Many of his recordings have received international classical music awards. His work has won more than 12 Gramophone Classical Music Awards, three Grammy Awards, a German Record Critics' Award, an ECHO Klassik Award, and an Académie Charles Cros Grand Prix. His recordings have also received many nominations. Most of these recordings feature the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, along with soloists such as Bryn Terfel, Anne Sofie von Otter, Sylvia McNair, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Barbara Hendricks, and Rodney Gilfry. He has also recorded works by Romantic composers, such as Berlioz, and symphonies by Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms, with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Most of his recordings have been released in partnership with Archiv Produktion of Deutsche Grammophon. He has also recorded with the music labels Philips and Erato.

• Bach, Christmas Oratorio, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Anne Sofie von Otter, and others at Abbey Road Studios in 1987 (DG Archiv), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, Motets, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists (DG Archiv)
• Bach, Complete Sacred Cantatas, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists (DG Archiv), and won Gramophone's 2005 Record of the Year and a 2011 Special Achievement Award, and was nominated twice for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, Mass in B minor, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists (DG Archiv), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, St John Passion, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in 1986 (DG Archiv), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Bach, St Matthew Passion, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists and Anne Sofie von Otter in 1985 (DG Archiv), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Beethoven, Missa solemnis, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 1990 (DG Archiv), and won a Choral Gramophone Classical Music Award and the 1991 Gramophone Record of the Year
• Berlioz, Messe solennelle, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 1994 (Philips), and won a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Berlioz, Les Troyens, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 2004 (DVD, BBC Opus Arte), and won Gramophone DVD of the Year
• Berlioz Rediscovered: Symphonie Fantastique, Messe solennelle, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique in 2018 (Decca), and won France's 2019 Lex Grands Prix internationaux Du DVD
• Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Charlotte Margiono, and Rodney Gilfry in 1990 (Philips)
• Handel, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, recorded with the Monteverdi Orchestra and Choir in 1980 (Erato), and won a Gramophone Classical Music Award
• Handel, Dixit Dominus and Coronation Anthem no. 1, recorded with the Monteverdi Orchestra and Choir in 1978 (Erato), and won a Gramophone Award
• Handel, Jephtha, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lynne Dawson, and others in 1988 (Philips), and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Handel, Messiah, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Catherine Robbin, Margaret Marshall, and Anthony Rolfe Johnson in 1983 (Philips)
• Handel, Solomon, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Carolyn Watkinson, Nancy Argenta, Barbara Hendricks, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, and others in 1985 (Philips)
• Haydn, Die Schöpfung, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Donna Brown, Gerald Finley, Michael Schade, and Rodney Gilfry in 1996 (DG Archiv), and won a Choral Gramophone Classical Music Award, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance
• Leclair, Scylla et Glaucus, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists in 1988 (Erato), and won a Gramophone Classical Music Award
• Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea, recorded with the English Baroque Soloists, Sylvia McNair, Anne Sofie von Otter, and others in 1996 (DG Archiv), and won the 1997 German Record Critics' Award
• Monteverdi, L'Orfeo, recorded with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Julianne Baird, Anne Sofie von Otter, Lynne Dawson, Nancy Argenta, and others in 1985 (DG Archiv)
• Monteverdi, Vespro Della Beata Vergine, recorded live with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra at St. Jude on the Hill in 1974 (Decca

Personal life

Gardiner is the son of Rolf Gardiner (1902–1971), a British person who worked to bring back rural traditions and supported the Nazi party, and the grandson of Alan Gardiner (1879–1963), a person who studied ancient Egypt. His mother, Marabel Hodgkin, was part of the Hodgkin family, a well-known family of Quakers. Sir Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017), an artist, was Gardiner’s first cousin.

Gardiner was married to violinist Elizabeth Wilcock from 1981 to 1997. They have three daughters, including Francesca Gardiner, who writes scripts for TV and movies and leads TV productions. From 2001 to 2019, he was married to Isabella de Sabata, the granddaughter of conductor Victor de Sabata.

In his free time, Gardiner manages a farm near Fontmell Magna in Dorset, which was started by his great-uncle, composer Henry Balfour Gardiner. His work on the farm, which uses unusual farming methods, has earned him the nickname “Uphill Gardiner.”

In August 2014, Gardiner was one of 200 public figures who signed a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence before a referendum in September of that year.

Selected publications

Book Title: Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Biography of Johann Sebastian Bach. Publisher: Penguin UK. Year Published: 2013. ISBN Number: 978-1-84614-721-0.