Peter Harvey (born 1958) is an English

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

. Harvey specialises in Baroque music. However, he also sings works by later composers, including contemporary ones. Harvey was a choral scholar at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, where he studied languages before switching to music. He then went to the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in London. Harvey is known for his performances of Bach. He was a soloist in the Monteverdi Choir's

Bach Cantata Pilgrimage The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by John Eliot Gardiner, Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist List of early music ensembles, Baroque ensemble, t ...

in 2000; he completed the bass parts in seventy cantatas in performance and recording. He has since contributed to the Bach cycle being recorded by the J. S. Bach-Stiftung with the conductor Rudolf Lutz. He also has founded his own group, the Magdalena Consort, which released its first commercial recording in 2014: it consists of Bach cantatas performed "one voice per part". Harvey has also collaborated with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, with

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...

and the Academy of Ancient Music, with Gérard Lesne and Il Seminario Musicale, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Gabrieli Consort. He has appeared as St. John in a televised performance of

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious music, religious works. Among his best known works are ''The Lamb (Tavener), The Lamb'' (1982), ''The ...

's The Cry of the Icon. In 2007 he undertook a U.S. tour with the Netherlands Bach Society and completed a series of performances of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem with the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, conducted by Michel Corboz, in Japan. With Roger Vignoles, he performed at the festivals in Cambridge and Lugo Schubert's

Winterreise ''Winterreise'' (, ''Winter Journey'') is a song cycle for voice and piano by Franz Schubert (Schubert Thematic Catalogue, D. 911, published as Opus number, Op. 89 in 1828), a setting of 24 Poetry, poems by German poet Wilhelm Müller. It is the ...

. Harvey has recorded more than 80 albums, including Bach's Passions and

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s by

Dieterich Buxtehude Dieterich Buxtehude (; born Diderich Hansen Buxtehude, ; – 9 May 1707) was a Danish composer and organist of the Baroque music, Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal ...

, motets by

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of ...

, sacred music by Monteverdi and Mozart's '' Requiem''. He has been a visiting professor at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

in London.

Selected recordings

* Marc-Antoine Charpentier : ''Vêpres aux Jésuites,'' H.536, H.204, H.361, H.203 - 203 a, H.225, H.32, H.208, H.35, H.160 -160 a, H.67, H.78. (work reconstructed by Catherine Cessac, Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, Charles Daniels, Mark Tucker, Hans-Jürg Rickenbacher, Peter Harvey, Stephan Imboden, Natacha Ducret, Ensemble baroque L'Arpa Festante conducted by Michel Corboz. 2 CD Cascavelle VEL 1030 (1993)

References

External links

Peter Harvey
Official website English operatic baritones 1958 births Living people Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama {{England-singer-stub