While a student at Cambridge, where he read Classics and music, Christopher Hogwood came under the influence of the distinguished British musicologist and keyboard player Thurston Dart, and studied the harpsichord with Rafael Puyana; after graduating, he spent a year at the Charles University in Prague, followed by further study with Gustav Leonhardt. A founder-member of David Munrow’s Early Music Consort of London, Hogwood participated in many concerts with it until Munrow’s death in 1976, as well as playing keyboard with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields during the same period, 1965–1976. From 1970 onwards he broadcast frequently with the BBC, especially in programmes aimed at the younger listener.

In 1973 Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music, initially as a recording orchestra for the label L’Oiseau-Lyre, by then under the wing of the Decca Record Company. The purpose of the orchestra was to perform music in the style of earlier periods of composition and on appropriate instruments. Produced by Peter Wadland, the Academy’s early records struck an immediate chord with the public. It gave its first public performances in 1976, also the first year of Hogwood’s artistic directorship of the King’s Lynn Festival in Norfolk, which continued until 1980. Between 1976 and 1986 his career was closely allied to the activities of the Academy of Ancient Music whose recording programme was extensive: it included the complete piano concertos of Beethoven with Steven Lubin and of Mozart with Robert Levin; the complete symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven; several complete recordings of operas by Purcell, Handel, Haydn and Mozart; and numerous works from the Baroque era.

The global distribution of these recordings gave Hogwood an international profile which resulted in many appointments abroad. Between 1986 and 2001 he served as the artistic director of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston; from 1987 to 1992 he was director of music of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, to be followed by his appointment as principal guest conductor of the same orchestra from 1992 to 1998; from 1989 to 1993 he was artistic adviser to the Australian Chamber Orchestra; and from 1993 to 2001 he was the artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Mozart Summer Festival in Washington DC. This work was combined with an active conducting career fulfilling many international guest engagements in both the concert hall and opera house; an academic career that involved appointments at Harvard University, the Royal Academy of Music, and King’s College, London; the editing for performance of numerous works; and the writing of many books and articles. Hogwood remains director of the Academy of Ancient Music and from 2000 has been the principal guest conductor of the Basle Chamber Orchestra, with which he has recorded a wide range of twentieth-century music composed in the neo-Classical style. In addition, from 2001 he has also been principal guest conductor of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada as well as conductor laureate of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. He was awarded an honorary professorship of music at Cambridge University in 2002.

The global distribution of these recordings gave Hogwood an international profile which resulted in many appointments abroad. Between 1986 and 2001 he served as the artistic director of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston; from 1987 to 1992 he was director of music of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, to be followed by his appointment as principal guest conductor of the same orchestra from 1992 to 1998; from 1989 to 1993 he was artistic adviser to the Australian Chamber Orchestra; and from 1993 to 2001 he was the artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Mozart Summer Festival in Washington DC. This work was combined with an active conducting career fulfilling many international guest engagements in both the concert hall and opera house; an academic career that involved appointments at Harvard University, the Royal Academy of Music, and King’s College, London; the editing for performance of numerous works; and the writing of many books and articles. Hogwood remains director of the Academy of Ancient Music and from 2000 has been the principal guest conductor of the Basle Chamber Orchestra, with which he has recorded a wide range of twentieth-century music composed in the neo-Classical style. In addition, from 2001 he has also been principal guest conductor of the Orquesta Ciudad de Granada as well as conductor laureate of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. He was awarded an honorary professorship of music at Cambridge University in 2002.

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