Laurence Cummings

LAURENCE CUMMINGS is an internationally acclaimed conductor and harpsichordist, and an exciting and versatile exponent of historical performance. 2015.16 marks his fourth season as artistic director of the International Händel-Festpiele Göttingen, and since 1999 he has served as music director of the London Handel Festival. At the Royal Academy of Music, he serves as the William Crotch professor of historical performance. He was also musical director of the Tilford Bach Society, is a trustee of Handel House London, and is a regular guest at Casa da Musica in Porto where he conducts Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música. Cummings enjoys an active career as a guest conductor, having made his U.S. debut conducting Orfeo with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. He has also conducted operas at many prestigious venues in the UK and Europe, including the English National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera de Lyon, Opernhaus Zurich, Linbury Theatre Covent Garden, and English Touring Opera. His extensive discography includes the first recording of Handel’s newly discovered Gloria with Emma Kirkby and the Royal Academy of Music on BIS, and recital discs of solo harpsichord music (including music by Louis and Francois Couperin) for Naxos. A disc of Handel arias with Angelika Kirchschlager and the Basel Chamber Orchestra on Sony BMG was followed by a recording of Handel duets with Lawrence Zazzo and Nuria Rial, also with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. He conducts the English Concert and recorder player Maurice Steger in a disc of Corelli concertos for Harmonia Mundi.