Richard Egarr

Richard Egarr (born 7 August 1963) is a British conductor and keyboard player.

Born in Lincoln, Egarr received his early musical training as a choirboy at York Minster and at Chetham's School of Music. He was an organ scholar of Clare College, Cambridge and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Study with Gustav Leonhardt further inspired his work in the field of historically informed performance.

Egarr is widely known as a specialist in the baroque repertoire, but has performed repertoire over a wide historical era, from fifteenth-century organ intabulations to Dussek and Chopin on early pianos, to Berg and Maxwell Davies on modern piano. He has recorded commercially several albums of solo keyboard music for such labels as Harmonia Mundi, as well as chamber repertoire for such labels as Hyperion.

In 2006, Egarr became music director of the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM). With the AAM, Egarr has made commercial recordings for such labels as Harmonia Mundi, and the AAM's own label. He concluded his tenure as AAM music director at the close of the 2020-2021 season.
Egarr made his Glyndebourne debut in 2007 with a staged version of Bach's St Matthew Passion.
In 2012, Egarr first guest-conducted the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO). Following two additional guest appearances with the PBO, the PBO announced, in January 2019, the appointment of Egarr as its next music director, with an initial contract of 5 years.