INTRODUCTIONS FROM THE STAGE

Nicholas Mathew is a professor in the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the books Political Beethoven and The Invention of Beethoven and Rossini, and several essays on the history, aesthetics, and performance of music from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. He was born in Norwich, England, and read music at Oxford University while studying the piano at the Guildhall School in London. Later on, he would combine doctoral research at Cornell University with the study of fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson. He is currently on the editorial board of the interdisciplinary journal Representations, as well as the boards of the Journal of Musicology and Eighteenth-Century Music. Together with James Davies, Mathew founded the book series New Material Histories of Music at the University of Chicago Press.

“An expert in 18th century style” (The New Yorker), Nicholas McGegan has dedicated five decades to conducting. McGegan’s approach — intelligent, infused with joy and never dogmatic — has led to appearances with many of the world’s major orchestras, including Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Sydney, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

His discography includes more than 100 releases spanning five decades, including more than 40 with Philharmonia Baroque and Chorale, where he was music director for 34 years, and 17 with Capella Savaria, who made him Principal Guest Conductor for Life.

He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas”. McGegan is committed to the next generation of musicians, frequently conducting and coaching students in regular engagements at Yale, Juilliard, Harvard,, Aspen Music Festival, and more.