Richard Gowers (harpsichord)
Richard Gowers, born 1994 in Cambridge, is a British pianist, organist and conductor. He has appeared across Europe, Asia and the USA, and has frequently appeared live on BBC Radio 3, as well as Radio 4, Classic FM, LBC and BBC Television. In 2018 his critically-acclaimed debut CD of Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur was awarded a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’. As of 2023 he is the Director of Music at St George's Hanover Square, Handel's church in London.
In the 2024-2025 season Richard Gowers will give his solo debuts in several of the world's top concert halls, including the Philharmonie (Berlin) in a recital alongside the Brass of the Berlin Philharmonic, Musikverein (Vienna) with trumpeter Matilda Lloyd, and Lotte Concert Hall (Seoul), Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Symphony Hall (Osaka) and Oriental Arts Centre (Shanghai) as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra.
In his developing career as a conductor, Richard Gowers is Conductor Designate of the London Handel Orchestra and Choir of the 21st Century. In October 2023 he gave his directing debut with the Academy of Ancient Music at the Monreale Festival of Sacred Music in Sicily, and March 2024 saw a debut at the London Handel Festival, directing Bach's St John Passion.
As an ensemble player he performs with all of London's main orchestras, including at the BBC Proms and on tour, and appeared in the soundtrack of the film Maestro with the LSO. As a freelance pianist he regularly works for the BBC Singers, London Symphony Chorus and privately for leading conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Barabara Hannigan, Edward Gardner and Francois-Xavier Roth.
As a pianist he specialises in song repertoire and chamber music. In 2017-19 he held a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Michael Dussek and Joseph Middleton and won prizes for song accompaniment and chamber music. In duo partnership with tenor Kieran Carrel, he was awarded the Schubert Institute UK Prize at the 2019 Leeds Lieder Festival, and was a finalist in the 2019 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition and the 2021 Helmut Deutsch Liedwettbewerb. He curates the series of Hanover Square Lunchtime Concerts in Mayfair.
Richard was a chorister in the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, where he sang the famous ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ solo at the 2007 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists aged 17, and subsequently spent a year at the Mendelssohn Conservatoire in Leipzig before returning to King’s as organ scholar, and graduating with a starred first in Music. He is currently studying for a Konzert Examen degree in Stuttgart with Nathan Laube. Richard is based in London, where he combines performing with teaching at Cambridge University, Tiffin and Westminster Schools and the Royal Academy of Music. He was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2024