Roger Norrington
Biography
Sir Roger Norrington is a native of Oxford, England. He was a boy soprano and studied violin and singing, but his higher education was in English literature at Cambridge. After several years he returned to study at the Royal College of Music, London under Sir Adrian Boult.
In 1962 he founded the Schütz Choir and thus began a 30-year exploration of historical performance practice. With the choir he gave many innovative concerts and made numerous recordings for Argo/Decca initially with the London Baroque Players, and then later with the London Classical Players.
The London Classical Players' reputation grew with Sir Roger's dramatic performances of the Beethoven Symphonies for EMI on period instruments. The recordings won prizes in the UK, Germany, Belgium and the United States.
Sir Roger's work on scores, sound, orchestra size, seating and playing style has effected the way 18th and 19th century music is now perceived. As such he is in demand by symphony orchestras world-wide. He works regularly with orchestras in London, Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Salzburg, Amsterdam, Paris, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He is chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra and of the Camerata Salzburg. He is also closely associated with the Philharmonia and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, which has taken over the work of the London Classical Players.
Sir Roger has recorded extensively for EMI, Virgin and Decca, made individual discs for Sony and BMG and now appears regularly with the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra on Hänssler Verlag.
For 15 years Sir Roger was music director of the Kent Opera and has worked as a guest at Covent Garden and the English National Opera. He has also worked in Italy at La Scala, La Fenice and the Maggio Musicale as well as the Wiener Straatsoper and the Salzburg Festival in Austria.