Raymond Leppard was born in London and grew up in Bath. A student of harpsichord and viola at Trinity College, Cambridge, he also was active as a choral conductor and served as music director of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society.
In the 1960s, Leppard played an instrumental role in the rebirth of interest in baroque music; in particular, he was one of the first major conductors to perform baroque opera.
In 1952 he made his London debut and then conducted his own Leppard Ensemble. He became closely associated with the Goldsbrough Orchestra, which became the English Chamber Orchestra in 1960. Also, he gave recitals as harpsichordist, and was a fellow of Trinity College and a lecturer in music from 1958 to 1968.
His interest in early music prompted him to prepare several realisations of scores from the period. While musicologists considered his editions controversial, his performances were important for introducing early operatic masterpieces to the general public. His production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea was presented at the Glyndebourne Festival under his direction in 1962. In the following years he subsequently prepared more operas by Monteverdi, as well as operas by Francesco Cavalli.
In 1963 he composed the original score for Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies, the film adaptation of William Golding's novel of the same name. His original score for the 1969 film Alfred the Great was released by MGM Records in the UK.
In November 1969, he made his USA debut conducting the Westminster Choir and New York Philharmonic. In 1973 he became principal conductor of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in Manchester, a position he retained until 1980.
He has also conducted at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and in Paris, Hamburg, Santa Fe, Stockholm, and Geneva.
At Glyndebourne, he conducted the world premiere of Nicholas Maw's Rising of the Moon. From 1987–2001, Leppard was the music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, where he collaborated with concertmaster Hidetaro Suzuki for 14 seasons. For 2004–2006 he served as Music Advisor to The Louisville Orchestra.
Raymond Leppard was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by The Queen. In 1973 the Republic of Italy conferred upon him the title of Commendatore della Republica Italiana for services to Italian music. He was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) by the University of Bath in 1973.
Source: Wikipedia
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