Nicholas McGegan

The musician and conductor Nicholas McGegan has been the artistic director of the International Handel Festival Göttingen since 1991; since 2006 he is also the conductor of the festival’s orchestra (FOG). In June of the same year he was named Honorary Professor at the Philosophical Faculty of the Georg-August-Universität. In cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hanover, the Department of Musicology in Göttingen has integrated Prof. McGegan into the course offered for students of both institutions.

Nicholas McGegan, born 1950 in Sawbridgeworth (Great Britain), studied music and musicology in Cambridge and Oxford. In Oxford he also worked as a tutor for six years. As a professor for the recorder as well as for the history of music he taught at the Royal College of Music in London and was head of the department for early music (1976 to 1980). He also worked as Artist-in-Residence at University of Washington in St. Louis (USA) from 1979 to 1985. Among others interests, his adademic publications and reviews deal with historical performance practice. As a recognised expert for baroque music and classical music, he is the principal conductor of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco (since 1985) as well as the founder and leader of the chamber music ensemble The Acardian Academy (since 1992), whose recordings have received several awards. As a musician and conductor Nicholas McGegan has worked with orchestras all over the world. He has made more than one hundred recordings of opera, orchestral music and chamber music.