Andrew Manze

Andrew Manze pursued parallel paths as a violinist specializing in early music and later as a conductor of standard symphonic repertoire, while also serving as a BBC radio presenter who helped bridge classical performers with broader British audiences. Born January 14, 1965, in Beckenham near London, he first read Classics at Cambridge University, then trained in music at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Simon Standage and Marie Leonhardt. He remained a member of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra until 1993, after which his collaboration with harpsichordist Richard Egarr began in 1994; among their principal recordings was a set of Jean-Féry Rebel’s 1712 violin sonatas. At the same time he co-founded Romanesca with harpsichordist John Toll and lutenist Nigel North, concentrating on seventeenth-century repertoire. In 1996 he took up the posts of associate director and concertmaster with The Academy of Ancient Music, and from 2003 to 2007 he served as music director of The English Concert. His BBC radio work grew steadily in popularity, and his BBC Proms debut in 1998 was televised nationwide, featuring concertos by Pergolesi, Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart that illustrated the immediacy of historically informed performance. As a soloist he appeared regularly with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Tafelmusik, and the Berlin Philharmonic. Over time his activities shifted predominantly to conducting, embracing Romantic and contemporary scores with conventional symphony orchestras. He held the chief conductorship of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2014, then in 2014 was named chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, Germany, a post extended through 2023; he has since made his home in that country. A cycle of Ralph Vaughan Williams symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra commenced in 2016. He issued nine recordings as conductor in 2018 and continued at a comparable pace in 2019 and 2020, leading the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. By the release of Flow in 2022, on which he accompanied clarinetist Annelien van Wauwe, his discography numbered roughly ninety albums. He has also worked as a teacher, writer, and editor.