John Constable

John Constable studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Harold Craxton. His career began at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where he worked on the music staff. Since 1984, he has served as the principal harpsichordist for the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the principal pianist for the London Sinfonietta, Britain's leading contemporary music ensemble, since its founding. He has performed as a soloist under the batons of such conductors as Simon Rattle, Hans Werner Henze, David Atherton, and Oliver Knussen. He has performed as continuo harpsichordist for recordings of Mozart operas with Colin Davis, Neville Marriner, Simon Rattle, and Georg Solti. With soprano Lucy Shelton, he gave the world premiere of Elliott Carter's Of Challenge and of Love at the Aldeburgh Festival. Constable has performed recitals at the BBC's New British Music and Lutoslawski weekends at the Barbican and the American Independents Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. In 2000, he was a soloist in the Boulez at 75 Festival and in 2001 at the BBC's Schnittke Festival at the Barbican. In 1998, he performed the Elliott Carter Double Concerto with the London Sinfonietta at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and with the ASKO Ensemble at the Concertgebouw. Constable has made numerous recordings of chamber music and song repertoire for Argo, Decca, EMI, Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Hänssler, and Capriccio. These include a disc of music for viola and piano with Paul Silverthorne, a selection of Liszt songs with Philip Langridge, a collection of Warlock songs with Adrian Thompson and Christopher Maltman, Fauré and Ravel songs with Felicity Palmer, Haydn Lieder with Dame Janet Baker, and A Spanish Songbook with Jill Gomez. He is a frequent collaborator with Lucy Shelton, with whom he has recorded Messiaen's Harawi and the complete songs of Elliott Carter and Stravinsky. Constable is a professor at the Royal College of Music, London, and a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music.