Sir John Eliot Gardiner has a reputation for being a bit prickly, but when I had the privilege to interview him in 2014, he was nothing of the sort. On the contrary, he was nothing if not patient and gentlemanly. I found this Gardiner’s plot to be wholly devoid of cacti.
And he’s a man who knows a thing or two about agriculture. As of the time we spoke, he was still running an organic farm inherited from his great-uncle, the conductor and composer Balfour Gardiner.
Today, Sir John turns 80. For 59 years, his cultivation has been of a different sort, as director of the Monteverdi Choir, the ensemble he found in 1964.
Surely a high point of their collaboration was in 2000, when, for the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, Gardiner and his choristers undertook an extensive Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing and recording most of the cantatas in 60 historic churches.
In 2017, he and his musicians toured widely with its Monteverdi 450 project. They performed all three of Monteverdi’s surviving operas, to mark the 450th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
In between, Gardiner and his Monteverdians came to Princeton for two concerts at Richardson Auditorum: of Bach’s cantata “Christ lag in Todesbanden” and his motet “Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied” and Handel’s “Dixit Dominus,” in 2014; and Monteverdi’s “Orfeo,” in 2015. Both were among the most memorable of my concertgoing career.
The Princeton concerts were made possible through the munificence of the late philanthropist William H. Scheide. I wrote more about Gardiner’s connection to Princeton and Mr. Scheide, through a certain Bach portrait, in an article that appeared in the Trenton Times.
Just last week, it was announced that Gardiner will conduct the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists at King Charles’ coronation on May 6.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-64940228
Gardiner in action, directing the Monteverdi Choir in a performance of Handel’s “Dixit Dominus”:
Happy birthday, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, and thank you for the countless bouquets of memorable music. There’s not been a thorn among them!
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