Rachel Podger

Baroque Violin / Director

https://www.rachelpodger.com

“Rachel Podger, the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin,” (The Times) has established herself as a leading interpreter of the Baroque and Classical. She was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, was Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and the Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020. A creative programmer, Rachel is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque; is Principal Guest Director for Tafelmusik; Patron for The Continuo Foundation and an Ambassador for the Learned Society of Wales. Rachel was awarded BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year and Instrumental Award 2023 for her solo album Tutta Sola.

Rachel continues to broaden her relationships with orchestras, ensembles and venues worldwide. Recent highlights include her inaugural performance with Tafelmusik as Principal Guest Director and a tour of Asia, her debut directing Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and a long-awaited return to the Netherlands Bach Society. Upcoming performances include her debut with Bavarian Radio Symphony, a return to Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a US/Canadian tour with Tafelmusik, and tours of 'Duologue' with Lucie Horsch, ‘Just Biber’ (Biber 1681 Sonatas) and The Muses Restor’d with her ensemble Brecon Baroque. 

RICHARD JONES // ‘Chamber Airs in A minor 1735: Prelude-Allegro’ by Rachel Podger & Brecon Baroque from The Muses Restor’d

As a soloist and chamber musician, recent collaborations have included the Austrian premiere of A Guardian Angel with VOCES8 at Vienna Konserthaus, a tour of Angels and Demons with I Fagiolini, a Vivaldi tour with Arte dei Suonatori, Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined and Vivaldi The Four Seasons with Brecon Baroque.

Live From London Christmas Highlights: ‘A Guardian Angel’ Rachel Podger & VOCES8

Rachel has also collaborated with many artists including Robert Levin, Jordi Savall, Christopher Glynn, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Masaaki Suzuki, Philharmonia Baroque, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Handel and Haydn Society, San Francisco Early Music, Holland Baroque Society, and Oregon Bach Festival.

Haydn Symphony 49 "La Passione": Allegro di molto, Rachel Podger & Tafelmusik

Recent album releases on Channel Classics include Just Biber, The Muses Restor’d with Brecon Baroque which was awarded a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine double 5* review & Chamber Choice and a Diapason d’Or, the world premiere recording of Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined in a new chamber arrangement by Chad Kelly with Brecon Baroque; a 7CD boxset of her award-winning Vivaldi concertos (which Classic FM named as their ‘Album of the Week’) and an album of C.P.E. Bach, with duo partner Kristian Bezuidenhout. Upcoming recording plans include a disc of Duologue with Lucie Horsch. 

A dedicated educator and inspirational coach, Rachel has begun her own training programme BOGA (Bow Yoga), she holds the Micaela Comberti Chair for Baroque Violin at the Royal Academy of Music and the Jane Hodge Foundation International Chair in Baroque Violin at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Rachel also has a regular relationship with The Juilliard School in New York.

For further projects and for print, please download Rachel’s full biography.