Rachel Podger is one of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance. Over the last two decades she has established herself as a leading interpreter of the music of the Baroque and Classical periods. She was educated in Germany and in England at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with David Takeno and Micaela Comberti.
After beginnings with The Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium, she was leader of The English Concert from 1997 to 2002 and in 2004 began a guest directorship with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with whom she appeared in a televised BBC Prom in 2007. As a guest director and soloist she has collaborated with numerous orchestras including Arte dei Suonatori (Poland), Musica Angelica and Santa Fe Pro Musica (USA), The Academy of Ancient Music, The European Union Baroque Orchestra, Holland Baroque Society and the Handel and Haydn Society (USA). Rachel has toured and recorded extensively with fortepianist Gary Cooper.
Rachel records exclusively for Channel Classics and has won numerous prestigious awards including the Baroque Instrumental Gramophone Award for La Stravaganza in 2003 and the Diapason d’Or de l’année in the Baroque Ensemble category for the La Cetra Vivaldi concertos with Holland Baroque in 2012. Her latest release in October 2013 is a solo disc of Biber, Bach, Pisendel and Tartini, with the title Guardian Angel. In 2014, Rachel will release a disc of 17th century Italian violin music with harpsichordist Marcin Swiatkiewicz and lutenist Daniele Caminiti.
Rachel directs her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque, with whom she has recorded Bach's Violin Concertos (2010), and Bach's Double and Triple Concertos, released in May 2013 to widespread critical acclaim. She is also Artistic Director of her own festival: the Brecon Baroque Festival. Rachel is an honorary member of both the Royal Academy of Music, where she holds the Micaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin (founded in 2008), and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she holds the Jane Hodge Foundation International Chair in Baroque Violin and teaches at institutions throughout the world.
Future engagements include collaborations with fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, cellist Pieter Wispelwey and director Masaaki Suzuki, a UK tour of Mid Wales Opera’s Acis and Galatea with Brecon Baroque and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, a European tour of Mozart repertoire with Arte dei Suonatori, and further tours with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the European Union Baroque Orchestra. She will also give recitals at King’s Place, London, and across the UK and Europe, as well as masterclasses and performances with Brecon Baroque, including a tour of the Vivaldi L’Estro Armonico concertos.
