Then came two surprising announcements in the space of a few days when the King’s Consort named Matthew Halls as their new Associate Director, and the Academy of Ancient Music announced that Richard Egarr would be succeeding Christopher Hogwood as their Music Director this autumn.

The King’s Consort was founded in 1980 by Robert King. There is enough diversity among the major British period instrument orchestras to make it hard to arrange them in a meaningful hierarchy, but the King’s Consort have been in the top handful for a long time. They are in the process of recording the complete sacred music of Monteverdi, and have a repertoire ranging from large-scale performances, such as the music for the coronation of King George II, to chamber programmes. Matthew Halls has been their principal keyboard player for the last five years. In other contexts, he has been emerging as a soloist and as guest-director with a range of ensembles. I’ve been conscious of his name cropping up as the continuo player in several innovative chamber ensembles, notably Musica Secreta and Sonnerie, so I tend to prick up my ears when his name is mentioned. His appointment was a surprise, but it brings some interesting prospects.

Halls has already been directing the King’s Consort, most recently in Bermuda, the UK and Denmark, so at one level his appointment simply regularises the present situation. It also opens a range of new opportunities for the King’s Consort, because the growth of Robert King’s career as a conductor was starting to limit his availability for projects with the King’s Consort. Halls’ appointment greatly eases that tension. His gifts as a concerto soloist also open the door to a range of new chamber opportunities. Robert King’s own comment is that he is "thrilled to share the direction of the King’s Consort". This summer, while King is conducting Gluck’s Armide at the Buxton Festival, Halls will be marking the start of his time as Associate Director by taking the King’s Consort on a tour in France, with Lorna Anderson (soprano) and Crispian Steele-Perkins (trumpet), performing a selection of concertos, finishing with Bach’s cantata Jauchzet Gott.

A few days later, listeners to the Early Music Show on BBC Radio 3 presented by Andrew Manze were the first to hear the news of Richard Egarr succeeding Christopher Hogwood as Director of the Academy of Ancient Music. This was a very graceful way for the news to emerge: Andrew Manze and Egarr are long-standing chamber music partners, and Manze was associate director of the Academy of Ancient Music until he took over from Trevor Pinnock at the English Concert.

In 1996 the Academy of Ancient Music appointed Paul Goodwin as Associate Conductor and Andrew Manze as Associate Director. That began broadening of the AAM’s range of directors, who’ve since included their concert master, Pavlo Beznosiuk, and overseas guests such as Giuliano Carmignola and Masaaki Suzuki.

There can be a number of problems when an ensemble is very closely linked to one director: it limits the director’s ability to do other things without the ensemble suffering, it creates problems if the director is ill, and promoters become so used to the ensemble and the director appearing together that there can be real resistance to them working with anyone else. The AAM has addressed these issues gradually, and now it has come to the point when the role of Music Director can pass on naturally. Christopher Hogwood will continue to be closely involved as Music Director Emeritus, conducting at least one major project each year, with Handel operas, (beginning with Amadigi in May 2007) programmed for each of the next three years.

Hogwood’s own future plans include working with a great many major orchestras, musicological and editing work (he’s a very active honorary Professor at the University of Cambridge). He’s in the middle of a series of impressive recordings of clavichord music, and activities as a keyboard player are now a notable slice of his work. He pays tribute to the strong management of AAM, and the extent to which the AAM is self-determining, both of which have been crucial in paving the way for this new development. There’s been a gradual process of trying out new people: Hogwood describes himself as "Very happy with the outcome" of this process - "Richard is an excellent musician".

Egarr’s first season with AAM will include four major projects with concert tours leading to recordings of Handel’s op. 4 and op. 7 organ concertos, a USA tour, and a summer tour with Emma Kirkby. Back in the autumn I was highly excited by Egarr’s first concerts as Associate Director of the AAM, which seemed to have taken on a new freshness and life. His own musicianship is rich and diverse: he’s recently returned from a tour of the USA promoting his recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and is a regular guest conductor of major period and modern instrument orchestras. In the words of the AAM’s General Manager, Christopher Lawrence, "He’s a broad-minded musician and the AAM is fortunate to secure him at this stage of his artistic development".

At the same time the start of May sees Trevor Pinnock short-listed for one of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s awards for outstanding artistic achievement, and announcing the formation of a new group, the European Brandenburg Ensemble, bringing together some of Europe’s leading players.
MARK ARGENT