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Trevor PINNOCK

Trevor PINNOCK

2007 Honorary Doctorate

Trevor PINNOCK

Citation

Trevor Pinnock is known worldwide as harpsichordist, conductor and chamber musician.

At the age of six he started his piano studies and entered the Canterbury Cathedral Choir School where he received his basic musical training. In his teens he became an organist, gaining his performance diploma and organ scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he studied organ with Ralph Downes and harpsichord with Millicent Silver.

In 1972 he founded the English Concert with whom he pioneered the use of period instruments for the performance of baroque and classical music. Their performances and many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon introduced a new sound world to musicians and music lovers.

After thirty years, in 2003, Pinnock left the English Concert to concentrate on other aspects of his work: his solo performances, his work as guest conductor and his educational projects. He works regularly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and is visiting conductor at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

In 2006 he formed the European Brandenburg Ensemble, a period instrument ensemble of around two dozen musicians of different generations who represent ten nations.