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Robert King

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Robert King was born in 1960 in Wombourne, England. He is a conductor, harpsichordist, organist, music publisher and writer. As a boy he sang in the choir of St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied music from 1979 to 1982. In 1980 he won the Brian Runnett Organ Prize there.

Music and breakthrough

In that same year he founded The King's Consort, an orchestra that plays on period instruments. He is its conductor and artistic director and made more than a hundred recordings with the ensemble, mainly for Hyperion Records, between 1987 and 2007. Since 2012 he has recorded for the label Vivat, with I Was Glad as his first album, which reached number one in the UK classical chart. His recordings of Purcell were repeatedly finalists for the Gramophone Awards.

Influence

His repertoire lies mainly in the Baroque, with Purcell as its centre of gravity. He also conducts Mozart, Haydn and Mendelssohn and English composers of the early twentieth century such as Vaughan Williams, Stanford and Parry. He has worked with orchestras and choirs in Europe and North America, wrote a book on Purcell in 1995 and published many scores. In the 1990s he also sat on the board of a British organisation that ensured musicians are paid when their work is broadcast.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a recording by The King's Consort, for example of Purcell. Notice the sound of the old instruments and how the choir and the orchestra follow one another.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists