Biographies

RICHARD PEARCE

Richard was organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge, then studied piano accompaniment for two years at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.  He is now a professor at the GSMD, coaching singers and instrumentalists for careers in opera and the concert platform, and is a trustee of the Josephine Baker Trust, which supports young soloists at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London.

Richard is busy as a conductor, pianist and organist with professional and amateur choirs.  He records and broadcasts regularly with the BBC Singers.  Since 2009 he has been musical director of the Farnham-based Waverley Singers. During this time, he has led the choir in some 40 performances.  He is also Director of Music of the Romsey Choral Society. 

Richard is a regular organist with the Philharmonia and BBC Symphony Orchestras; with them he has performed with many inspirational conductors including established maestri Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Andrew Davis, Sakari Oramo, Marin Alsop and Ed Gardner, as well as up-and-coming stars such as Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Valentina Peleggi.  Recent performances have included the solo organ part in the European première of Unsuk Chin’s Le Chant des Enfants des Étoiles with Esa-Pekka Salonen in London’s Royal Festival Hall; a tour of China performing Saint-Säens organ symphony with Vladimir Ashkenazy; and the solo organ part in the Glanert Requiem für Hieronymus Bosch with the BBC Symphony under Semyon Bychkov.   He also performs regularly in Promenade concerts and recordings, including at the Last Night of the Proms to a worldwide television audience.