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~ BIOGRAPHY ~
A native of the UK, Andrew Arthur has established a fine, wide-spread reputation as a musician of notable versatility; highly regarded on the international concert platform and equally at home as a conductor, keyboard soloist, accompanist and continuo player, he combines all of these disciplines within his principal teaching position as Fellow, Director of Music and Director of Studies in Music at Trinity Hall in the University of Cambridge. An acknowledged specialist in the music of the Baroque and Classical periods Andrew is best known for his work in the field of historically informed performance and, alongside his educational commitments, he enjoys a busy and varied freelance career that has seen him perform extensively throughout the United Kingdom and on tour across Europe, South Africa, Singapore, Canada and the USA.
Andrew is Associate Director of the internationally renowned period-instrument orchestra, The Hanover Band, with whom he has undertaken over 200 performances, including live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, numerous large-scale tours of orchestral, vocal and chamber repertoire and regular annual performances of J.S. Bach’s Passions and Handel’s Messiah. Recent highlights include appearances at King’s Place, London, Chichester Cathedral, Windsor Castle, St James' Palace and the Basilica of Laren in the Netherlands.
From 2006-2014 Andrew held the position of Principal Conductor of the Euterpe Baroque Consort based in Antwerp, Belgium, during which tenure he broadcast both major works and chamber concerts on live radio for KLARA and appeared regularly at prominent festivals such as Klara in het Paleis and the Festival van Vlaanderen. Andrew is also Musical Director of his own period-instrument ensemble and vocal consort Orpheus Britannicus with whom he records for Resonus Classics and, each summer, he performs at the Carmel Bach Festival in California where he is a long-standing member of the Artistic Leadership Team and where he has served as a Director and as Principal Organist & Harpsichordist since 1999.
As a keyboard player, Andrew’s engagements encompass organ, harpsichord and fortepiano literature and he has given countless performances of concertos by J.S. Bach, Handel, C.P.E. Bach, Haydn and Mozart. In 2007, he toured the UK performing the complete solo organ works of Dieterich Buxtehude, marking the composer's tercentenary year and he is currently involved in performing a complete cycle of J.S. Bach’s organ works in the USA. His love for chamber music and, in particular, his affinity for keyboard accompaniment has yielded a number of significant collaborations with other leading period-instrumentalists including duo-partnerships with the eminent violinists, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Theresa Caudle and Peter Hanson. As a continuo player, he has been engaged by many of the UK's leading period-instrument orchestras and professional choirs, working under such conductors as Nicholas Kraemer, Stephen Layton, Bruno Weil, Sir Stephen Cleobury and Sir Charles Mackerras. In 2000, he participated in Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s celebrated Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir.
Andrew maintains an active profile as a recording artist and his multifarious CD recordings have been met with great critical acclaim in the musical Press. In 2019 his ensemble, Orpheus Britannicus, was nominated for an International Classical Music Award for their album of Italian, Austrian and Bohemian baroque music for trumpet and strings with the renowned baroque trumpeter, Robert Farley. More recent releases include an album of Mozart Sonatas for Violin & Fortepiano with the violinist, Peter Hanson, and J.S. Bach’s complete Concertos for Harpsichord and Strings, BWV 1052-1058 & ‘Brandenburg’ Concerto No. 5 with the Hanover Band. A further recording with Peter Hanson of Schubert Sonatas for Violin and Fortepiano is scheduled for release in 2025.
Alongside his busy concert, recording and teaching schedule, Andrew has maintained a life-long commitment to liturgical music, an interest nurtured initially through his early training as a Cathedral chorister and subsequently as Organ Scholar and Acting Precentor at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and as deputy Lay-Clerk at St John's College, Cambridge. He has since held the positions of Associate Director of Music at the great Butterfield Church of All Saints, Margaret Street in London's West End and Deputy Master of Music of the Chapels Royal, HM Tower of London. At present, amongst his diverse portfolio of musical activities in Cambridge, he works throughout the academic year training the Organ Scholars and conducting the Chapel Choir at Trinity Hall with whom, in addition to their regular schedule of services in the College Chapel, he undertakes a number of concerts, recordings and foreign tours. He is also Coordinator of the University’s Intercollegiate Organ Scholarship Scheme and Chairman of the Organ Scholars’ Forum, for which he organises an annual series of masterclasses, workshops, recital opportunities and career talks for current Organ students within the University.