Philip Pickett

Musical Director and founder of the world-renowned ensembles New London Consort and Musicians of the Globe, Philip Pickett is considered as one of today's most eminent advocates of period performance.

He has recently embarked on a flourishing new career as a guest conductor, leading symphony orchestras and opera companies in Classical, Romantic and Baroque repertoires. Philip Pickett began his musical career as a trumpeter before becoming one of Britain's leading recorder players. He performed and recorded as soloist with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Polish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players and English Concert.

Philip Pickett is regularly invited as guest conductor, appearing with the Orchestre National des Pays de La Loire in France and the Aarhus and Aalborg Symphony Orchestras in Denmark. Recently, he has also conducted the Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National d’île-de-France, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Hallé Opera Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Macau Orchestra and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. In April 2004 he conducted a new production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at Lyon National Opera. Guest conducting engagements in 2007/08 included débuts with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orquesta de Navarra, Boston's Handel & Haydn Society and Orchestre de Bretagne, as well as return engagements with the Aarhus Symphony, Aalborg Symfoniorkester and Macau Orchestra. In 2008/09 season, Philip Pickett made his début with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, Oslo Chamber Orchestra, Trondheim Symfoniorkester, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic and South Jutland Symphony Orchestra, as well as return to conduct the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra for the fourth time in four seasons. In March 2009, Philip Pickett will conduct a new production of Don Giovanni at Mexico National Opera.

Associate Artists of London's South Bank Centre between 1996 to 2005, Philip Pickett and the New London Consort have performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Lingotto Turin, Palau de la Música Barcelona, Royal Festival Hall London and Lincoln Center NY.

In November 2003 Philip Pickett conducted the New London Consort’s acclaimed Jonathan Miller production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at London’s South Bank Centre, with later revivals at major arts festivals in England, Norway and China and at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. A world-wide tour of the production in 2007 marked the 400th anniversary of the first performance of L’Orfeo. Philip Pickett and the New London Consort recorded exclusively for Decca for 15 years, making more than 40 CDs including Monteverdi's L'Orfeo and 1610 Vespers, Bach's Brandenburg Concerti, Orchestral Suites and Christmas Oratorio, Blow's Venus & Adonis, Telemann’s Water Music and Vivaldi’s Gloria.

As well as touring world-wide, Philip Pickett and the Musicians of the Globe recorded a series of CDs of English theatre music for Philips Classics including Purcell's Timon of Athens, excerpts from Dido & Aeneas and The Fairy Queen, and Henry Rowley Bishop's music for the Covent Garden Shakespeare revivals around 1820.

From 1996-2003 Philip Pickett was artistic director of the South Bank Centre’s annual Early Music Festival. In 1995 he was appointed Director of Early Music at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London.