Anthony Halstead
Encyclopedia
Anthony Halstead is a leading figure in the period-instruments movement
. First known as a virtuoso
on the natural horn
, he has gradually moved into the role of conductor and has directed the Academy of Ancient Music
, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
, and most notably Hanover Band
.
Halstead attended Chetham's School and the Royal Manchester College of Music, studying piano at first, as well as horn
, organ
, and composition
. At the suggestion of his horn teacher Sydney Coulston, Halstead began to specialise in the horn. He was first horn with the English Chamber Orchestra
from 1972 to 1986, and has also been a member of other noted orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra
. He has also been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Halstead served as both a member of the horn section and as horn soloist for several period-instruments groups and recorded widely. His many recordings in both capacities include (as part of the orchestra) Beethoven's
Five Piano Concertos under Christopher Hogwood
(with Steven Lubin
as the fortepiano
soloist, L'Oiseau Lyre 421 408–2); the same composer's Ninth Symphony
under Roger Norrington
(EMI CDC 7492212); Mozart's
opera Idomeneo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
(Archiv 431 674–2); and (as horn soloist) chamber music by Johann Christian Bach
with Trevor Pinnock
and members of The English Concert
(Archiv 423 385–2); and Mozart's Horn Concerti with Hanover Band directed by Roy Goodman
(Nimbus NI 5104).
Halstead turned increasingly during the 1990s to conducting. Though most famous at that time as a horn virtuoso, he was no novice at leading an orchestra, having studied conducting with Sir Charles Mackerras
and Michael Rose; his professional conducting debut had been in 1976 directing the premiere of Elisabeth Lutyens
' One and the Same. For the record label CPO
, Halstead embarked on a project to record all the orchestral music of Johann Christian Bach with Hanover Band on 22 CDs. For the J.C. Bach keyboard concertos (CPO 999 930-2), Halstead himself performed the solo part on harpsichord
(which he had studied with George Malcolm
) and fortepiano, as well as directed the orchestra. With the same ensemble and record label, Halstead also recorded the Op. 17 symphonies of Carl Friedrich Abel (CPO 999 214–2).
No stranger to modern orchestras, Halstead has also directed the English Chamber Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
as well as other ensembles. He also conducted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
in two of the three CDs of Luigi Boccherini
's complete cello concerti released by Naxos Records
(Vol. 1, catalogue number 8.553571, and Vol. 2, catalogue number 8.553572); in these recordings, Halstead's soloist was the cellist Tim Hugh.
Halstead's conducting has also been featured on many other recordings, and he has been invited to conduct in Scandinavia, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Spain. According to his website, he also is involved in private teaching and chamber music coaching, as well as serving as a guest professor in many conservatories
in the United Kingdom and a prominent member of the British Horn Society.
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
. First known as a virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
on the natural horn
Natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the ancestor of the modern-day horn, and is differentiated by its lack of valves. It consists of a mouthpiece, some long coiled tubing, and a large flared bell. Pitch changes are made through a few different techniques:* Modulating the lip tension as...
, he has gradually moved into the role of conductor and has directed the Academy of Ancient Music
Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music is a period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after a previous organisation of the same name of the 18th century. The musicians play on either original instruments or modern copies of...
, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and has its headquarters at Kings Place...
, and most notably Hanover Band
Hanover Band
The Hanover Band founded by Caroline Brown in 1980 is a British period-instrument orchestra.The group's website explains the name thus: 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and 'Band' is the 18th century term for orchestra....
.
Halstead attended Chetham's School and the Royal Manchester College of Music, studying piano at first, as well as horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, and composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. At the suggestion of his horn teacher Sydney Coulston, Halstead began to specialise in the horn. He was first horn with the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
from 1972 to 1986, and has also been a member of other noted orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
. He has also been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Halstead served as both a member of the horn section and as horn soloist for several period-instruments groups and recorded widely. His many recordings in both capacities include (as part of the orchestra) Beethoven's
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Five Piano Concertos under Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
(with Steven Lubin
Steven Lubin
Steven Lubin is an American pianist and musical scholar. He is best known for his performances on the fortepiano, the early version of the piano.-Studies:...
as the fortepiano
Fortepiano
Fortepiano designates the early version of the piano, from its invention by the Italian instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. It was the instrument for which Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven wrote their piano music...
soloist, L'Oiseau Lyre 421 408–2); the same composer's Ninth Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
under Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
(EMI CDC 7492212); Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
opera Idomeneo conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
(Archiv 431 674–2); and (as horn soloist) chamber music by Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
with Trevor Pinnock
Trevor Pinnock
Trevor David Pinnock CBE is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical...
and members of The English Concert
The English Concert
The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket...
(Archiv 423 385–2); and Mozart's Horn Concerti with Hanover Band directed by Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman is a conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music...
(Nimbus NI 5104).
Halstead turned increasingly during the 1990s to conducting. Though most famous at that time as a horn virtuoso, he was no novice at leading an orchestra, having studied conducting with Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
and Michael Rose; his professional conducting debut had been in 1976 directing the premiere of Elisabeth Lutyens
Elisabeth Lutyens
Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE was a significant English composer.- Early life and education :She was one of the five children of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and his wife Emily, who was profoundly involved in the Theosophical Movement...
' One and the Same. For the record label CPO
Classic Produktion Osnabrück
Classic Produktion Osnabrück is a record label founded in 1986 by Georg Ortmann and several others. Its declared mission is to fill niches in the recorded classical repertory, with an emphasis on romantic, late romantic and 20th-century music...
, Halstead embarked on a project to record all the orchestral music of Johann Christian Bach with Hanover Band on 22 CDs. For the J.C. Bach keyboard concertos (CPO 999 930-2), Halstead himself performed the solo part on harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
(which he had studied with George Malcolm
George Malcolm (musician)
George Malcolm CBE was an English harpsichordist and conductor.Malcolm's first instrument was the piano, and his first teacher was a nun who recognised his talent and recommended him to the Royal College of Music. Malcolm went on to study at Balliol College, Oxford...
) and fortepiano, as well as directed the orchestra. With the same ensemble and record label, Halstead also recorded the Op. 17 symphonies of Carl Friedrich Abel (CPO 999 214–2).
No stranger to modern orchestras, Halstead has also directed the English Chamber Orchestra and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is a broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow, Scotland. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation , it is the oldest full-time professional orchestra in Scotland...
as well as other ensembles. He also conducted the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
in two of the three CDs of Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
's complete cello concerti released by Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
(Vol. 1, catalogue number 8.553571, and Vol. 2, catalogue number 8.553572); in these recordings, Halstead's soloist was the cellist Tim Hugh.
Halstead's conducting has also been featured on many other recordings, and he has been invited to conduct in Scandinavia, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Spain. According to his website, he also is involved in private teaching and chamber music coaching, as well as serving as a guest professor in many conservatories
Music school
The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music.Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department or conservatory.Music instruction can be provided...
in the United Kingdom and a prominent member of the British Horn Society.