B i o g r a p h y
Richard Gowers is a British collaborative pianist, conductor and organist.
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. He has given many performances at Wigmore Hall, most recently in the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards with Stephanie Wake-Edwards, and the finals of the 2019 Wigmore Hall Song Competition with Kieran Carrel; in April 2019 he took part in Wigmore Hall’s first Liederabend of the works of Carl Loewe with members of the Royal Academy Song Circle. In duo partnership with Kieran Carrel, he was awarded the Schubert Institute UK Prize at the 2019 Leeds Lieder Festival.
After a year at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater 'Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy' Leipzig, he took up the organ scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge, graduating with a starred double first class degree in Music. With King’s College Choir he performed at major venues and festivals around the world, including Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Proms, Concertgebouw, MDR Musiksommer, Rheingau, Vancouver and tours of the USA and China. His time at King’s culminated in the worldwide broadcast of the 2016 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, followed by the release in 2018 of his critically acclaimed disc of Messiaen La Nativité du Seigneur, which was a Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’.
Richard is based in London, where he pursues a busy freelance schedule. As well as extensive piano collaborations, he is under demand as a concert organist. Recent performances have included festivals in Toulouse, Paris, St Albans, Germany, the USA and Australia, as well as major UK venues. He is active as a chorus accompanist for the BBC Singers, London Symphony Chorus and Philharmonia Chorus; as an ensemble member he has performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, CBSO, King’s Consort, LPO, OAE, Philharmonia and RPO. He is a keen conductor of choirs and orchestras, and has repetiteured for Hampstead Garden Opera, Waterperry Opera and the Royal Opera House.
Richard teaches at Cambridge University, Tiffin and Westminster Schools and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He is the Director of Music at St Saviour’s Church, Pimlico, where he curates a concert series and runs the music outreach programme Sing After School. He is a passionate advocate of musicians’ rights in the current political climate, and has a weakness for dry humour and artisan crisps.
