Andrew Manze

Andrew Manze has had dual careers, one in early music as a violinist and the other as a conductor in mainstream symphonic repertoire. As a presenter on BBC Radio, Manze has also been a key communicator between classical musicians and the general British public. Manze was born on January 14, 1965, in Beckenham, near London. He attended Cambridge University, where he studied Classics. He moved on to music studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, studying with both Simon Standage and Marie Leonhardt. Manze then joined the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, remaining there until 1993. The following year, he began collaborating with harpsichordist Richard Egarr. One of their major releases presented a 1712 collection of violin sonatas by composer Jean-Féry Rebel. Meanwhile, Manze formed the group Romanesca with harpsichordist John Toll and lutenist Nigel North; the trio specialized in music of the 17th century. In 1996, Manze was appointed associate director and concertmaster of the Baroque group the Academy of Ancient Music. From 2003 to 2007, he was the music director of another major historical performance ensemble, The English Concert. Manze became a popular presenter on BBC Radio and made his debut with the BBC Proms concerts in 1998. That concert was televised nationally, with Manze playing concertos by Pergolesi, Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart and introducing the public to the enthusiasm and directness of the new ways of performing Baroque and Classical music. Manze was long a busy soloist on the international concert scene, appearing in one season with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the early music group Tafelmusik, and the Berlin Philharmonic. As Manze's career progressed, he shifted mostly to conducting. Increasingly often in the 21st century, Manze turned to mainstream Romantic and contemporary repertory, leading traditional symphony orchestras rather than early music ensembles. From 2006 to 2014, he was the chief conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. After a sequence of guest appearances with top German, English, and American orchestras, he was appointed chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover, Germany, in 2014, remaining in this post until 2023. The year 2016 saw the beginning of a Manze-led cycle of Ralph Vaughan Williams' symphonies with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018, he issued no fewer than nine recordings as a conductor and slowed only slightly in 2019 and 2020, when he led the NDR Radiophilharmonie in a recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, and Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92. By 2022, when Manze and the NDR Radiophilharmonie backed clarinetist Annelien van Wauwe on the album Flow, his recording catalog comprised some 90 albums. He approached 100 as he led the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on the 2026 album Mihkel Kerem: Orchestral Music, Vol. 2. In addition to conducting and performing, Manze has been active as a teacher, writer, and editor. ~ James Manheim & Joseph Stevenson, Rovi