Harry Bicket
Britain's Harry Bicket is a fixture of that country's early music scene and an unusually versatile musician whose activities extend to operatic and orchestral conducting, harpsichord, and organ. He has long been associated with The English Concert, part of the first major wave of British early music groups.
Bicket was born in Liverpool in 1961 and attended Radley College, Christ Church, Oxford, and the Royal College of Music as an organ student. After finishing his studies, he began to find major organ posts: first at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and then as sub-organist at Westminster Abbey, playing there in 1986 at the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. He also began performing with The English Concert as a harpsichordist in 1984, continuing to appear with the group for many years. His conducting career began to grow, especially after a well-publicized stand-in appearance at the 1996 Glyndebourne Festival, leading such major stars as David Daniels, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Dawn Upshaw. The early 2000s saw Bicket appear as an operatic conductor at Covent Garden in London in Handel's Orlando with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (2003) and at New York's Metropolitan Opera in Handel's Rodelinda with Renée Fleming as the star. The following year, he led the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on Fleming's hugely popular album Handel. He also conducted several Handel productions at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico and was named that organization's chief conductor in 2013; in 2018, he added the title of music director there. He continues to hold the position as of 2022.
Parallel with these operatic triumphs, Bicket has pursued a career as conductor of The English Concert, assuming leadership of that venerable historical-performance group in 2007. He has made many recordings with The English Concert, including an album of concertos by dall'Abaco, Porpora, Marcello, and others on the Signum Classics label in 2018. He also conducted The English Concert on the album Il Caro Sassone with soprano Lucy Crowe, as well as a recording of early Handel arias by soprano Alice Coote. In the early 2020s, Bicket and The English Concert moved to the Linn Records label, issuing a recording of Handel's opera Rodelinda, HWV 19, in 2021, and one of the rare Passion oratorio La resurrezione, HWV 47, the following year. Both albums featured Crowe prominently.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
16 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Handel: Serse
The English Concert, Harry Bicket
Opera - Released by Linn Records on 2 Jun 2023
Gramophone: Recording of the Month24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: La Resurrezione
The English Concert, Harry Bicket, Sophie Bevan
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 8 Apr 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Rodelinda
The English Concert, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 14 May 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias – Favourite Showpieces for Mezzo-Soprano
Alice Coote, The English Concert, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 31 Aug 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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Beauty Of The Baroque
Danielle de Niese, The English Concert, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Renée Fleming - Handel Arias (Digital Bonus Version)
Renée Fleming, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Airs & Cantates sacrés
David Daniels, Harry Bicket, The English Concert
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 25 Aug 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Handel
Ian Bostridge, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 9 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le grand Händel
Ian Bostridge, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 16 Jul 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sento Amor : Operatic Arias
David Daniels, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Nov 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Choral Works
Finzi Singers, Paul Spicer, Harry Bicket
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on 1 May 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Coronation Music For King James II
Harry Bicket, The Choir Of Westminster Abbey, The English Concert, Simon Preston
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Handel Collection
John Rutter, The City of London Sinfonia, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by American Gramaphone on 12 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantatas & Arias
Elizabeth Watts, Harry Bicket, The English Concert
Cantatas (sacred) - Released by harmonia mundi on 8 Feb 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Arias – Favourite Showpieces for Mezzo-Soprano
Alice Coote, The English Concert, Harry Bicket
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 31 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo