Rachel Podger is one of the most creative talents to emerge in the field of period performance over the last decade, establishing 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 Michaela Comberti.
After beginning with The Palladian Ensemble and Florilegium, she was leader of The English Concert from 1997 to 2002. Since then she has been in demand as a soloist and guest director all over the Baroque music world and has enjoyed meeting orchestras from all over the globe incuding Arte dei Suonatori (Poland), Santa Fe Pro Musica and Musica Angelica (Usa), Capriccio Basel and the Holland Baroque Society. A regular collaboration with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment began in 2004 with a Brandenburg Concerto tour to the Usa and the last five years have seen tours to Europe and the Usa exploring not just Baroque repertoire but also Haydn, Mozart and CPE Bach Concertos and Sinfonies. One of the highlights was a televised concert at the Bbc Proms in 2007. Rachel’s recordings of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin and his Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (with Trevor Pinnock) were both awarded first place by the Bbc’s ‘Building a Library’ programme. Her recording of Telemann’s Twelve Fantasies for Solo Violin won the prestigious Diapason d’Or, as did the 2003 recording of Vivaldi’s 12 violin concertos “La Stravaganza” which then went on to winning the 2003 Gramophone Award for Best Baroque Instrumental recording. Her Duo with Gary Cooper (keyboards) has enjoyed tremendous success through their Mozart Sonata recording project which is now complete, winning many awards along the way including Gramophone’s “Editors’s Choice” (twice) and the Diapaison d’Or (three times). The future holds many exciting projects: recording the Bach Concertos with her newly formed group Brecon Baroque, a Beethoven Violin Sonata series with Gary Cooper and Mozart Violin Concertos.
Teaching is a significant part of Rachel’s musical life; she teaches at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff; she is Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music, London and directs termly projects with students at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. In September 2008 she took up the newly-founded Michaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she is also an Honorary Member.