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Adrian Butterfield (Violin, Conductor) |
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Born: July 2, ____ - London, England |
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The English violinst and conductor, Adrian Butterfield, began playing the violin at the age of 4, sang as a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral, read Music at Trinity College, Cambridge (1984-1987) and studied at the Royal College of Music.
Adrian Butterfield has appeared on numerous stages across the world as a violinist, director and conductor who specialises in performing a wide range of music on period instruments. He is Musical Director of the Tilford Bach Festival (since 2002) and former Associate Director of the London Handel Festival (1999-2024) and regularly directs the London Handel Players (since 1999) as well as working as a guest soloist and director in Europe and North America. He has also led the gut-string quartet, The Revolutionary Drawing Room, for over 25 years (since 1995) and The Brandenburg Consort. He also regularly directs the London Handel Orchestra and the Theatre of Early Music, Montreal.
His Baroque ensemble, The London Handel Players, performs regularly at Wigmore Hall and throughout Europe and North America and made their debut at Carnegie Hall in 2014. They have made a number of recordings of music by George Frideric Handel and his contemporaries for Somm Records. Adrian Butterfield’s world premiere complete recordings of Leclair’s first three Books of violin sonatas have been released to great acclaim in 2022. His latest solo recording, of the first volume of Leclair’s Violin Concertos, was released by Somm in the autumn of 2025 and LHP’s recent Georg Philipp Telemann disc, of his Quadri of 1730, was released on the same label in March 2025.
Adrian Butterfield is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music in London, gives master-classes in Europe and North America and has taught at Dartington, at the Belgrade Baroque Academy and Pro Corda Baroque. He directed an annual Baroque project with the Southbank Sinfonia for 20 years.
Adrian Butterfield has conducted all the major choral works of J.S. Bach and about a hundred of his cantatas as well as numerous works by G.F. Handel (Messiah, Esther, Alcina, Orlando, Parnasso in Festa, Israel in Egypt, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, La Resurrezione, Chandos Anthems) and their contemporaries. He has directed ensembles such as the London Mozart Players, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the European Union Chamber Orchestra and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble.
Plans for the 2025-2026 season include directing French Baroque, W.A. Mozart in Mannheim and J.S. Bach Celebratory Cantatas programmes all at Wigmore Hall, a 25th anniversary concert for the London Handel Players promoted by the London Handel Festival in November and conducting J.S. Bach's Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 and a programme of works by Ravel, Gabriel Fauré and Berlioz in the summer of 2026.
Adrian Butterfield is married to the flautist and recorder player, Rachel Brown, and they have one daughter. |
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Sources:
Adrian Butterfield Website & Facebook/LinkedIn profiles
Bits & pieces from other sources
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2026) |
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Adrian Butterfield : Short Biography | Ensembles: London Handel Players
Bach Discography: Recordings of Vocal Works
Bach Festivals: Tilford Bach Festival |
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Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works |
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Conductor |
As |
Works |
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John Eliot Gardiner |
Violin |
Member of English Baroque Soloists:
[C-5] (1998, CD/MP3): BWV 16 [1st recording], BWV 98 [1st recording], BWV 139 [1st recording]
[C-9] (2000, CD/MP3): BWV 82, BWV 83, BWV 125, BWV 200
[C-10] (2000, CD/MP3): BWV 133
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 1 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-2: BWV 75, BWV 39, BWV 20
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 2 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-2: BWV 21, BWV 135
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 4 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-1: BWV 9, BWV 170; J. Kuhnau/J.S. Bach: Motet Der Gerechte kömmt um
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 7 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-2: BWV 50, BWV 130, BWV 19, BWV 149
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 8 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-1: BWV 138, BWV 99, BWV 51 [2nd recording], BWV 100
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 12 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-2: BWV 139, BWV 163, BWV 52, BWV 140
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 19 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-1: BWV 155, BWV 3, BWV 13; CD-2: BWV 26, BWV 81, BWV 14, BWV 227
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 20 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-1: BWV 144, BWV 84, BWV 92
Bach Cantata Pilgrimage Vol. 21 (2000, 2-CD/MP3): CD-2: BWV 182, BWV 54, BWV 1 |
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Paul Goodwin |
Violin |
Orchestra Member:
[V93-2] (1993, Audio): BWV 244, in English [1st recording]
[V-1] (1994, 2-CD/Video): BWV 244, in English [2nd recording] |
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Daniel Taylor |
Violin |
Member of Theatre of Early Music:
[C-2] (2001, CD/MP3): BWV 53
[C-4] (2002, CD/MP3): BWV 200
[C-5] (2007, CD/MP3): BWV 4/Mvt. 1, BWV 244/Mvt. 39, BWV 118b, BWV 12/Mvt. 1, BWV 245/Mvt. 30, BWV 668, BWV 248/3/Mvt. 8 31), BWV 21/Mvt. 1, BWV 248/1/Mvt. 4 [4) |
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Geoffrey Webber |
Violin |
[V-1] (1998, 2-CD/MP3): BWV 247 |
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Links to other Sites |
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Adrian Butterfield - Violinist | Director | Conductor (Official Website)
Adrian Buttrrfield on Facebook
Adrian Butterfeild on LinkedIn |
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