Philip Ledger (Conductor, Organ, Harpsichord)

Born: December 12, 1937 - Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, England

The noted English conductor, organist, harpsichordist, pianist, editor and arranger, Philip (Stevens) Ledger, was educated at King’s College, Cambridge, and at the Royal College of Music, London.

Philip Ledger served as Master of the Music at Chelmsford Cathedral from 1962 to 1965, and as director of music at the University of East Anglia from 1965 to 1973. There he served as dean of the School of Fine Arts and Music from 1968 to 1971. In 1968 he was named an artistic director of the Aldeburgh Festival. Subsequently he was engaged as conductor of the Cambridge University Musical Society in 1973, and director of music and organist at King’s College in 1974. In 1982 he was appointed principal of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Dram in Glasgow.

Philip Ledger edited The Oxford Book of English Madrigals (1978) and works of Byrd, Purcell, and George Frideric Handel.

Philip Ledger is a versatile musician, who is renowned as an elegant performer of early English music. In 1985 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2001)

Philip Ledger: Short Biography | Recordings of Vocal Works

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