Rachel Podger

Born of a German mother and a British father, violinist Rachel Podger (b. 1968) studied at a Steiner school and went on to specialize in music at London's Guildhall, where her teachers included David Takeno and Pauline Scott. Her choice to study Baroque violin was thwarted by the lack of specialized teaching facilities. She therefore took private lessons from Micaela Comberti, not under the supervision of the famous music school. With her brother, tenor Julian Podger, she formed the Cambridge-based Trinity Baroque Ensemble, and took part in other baroque music groups such as the Palladium Ensemble, Florilegium and London Baroque. From 1997 to 2002, she was concertmaster of the English Concert, before embarking on a brilliant career as a performer and teacher. Appointed director of the Orchestra for the Age of Enlightenment in 2004, she collaborates with other internationally renowned early music orchestras, including Musica Angelica and the Academy of Ancient Music. After several albums dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach and an acclaimed transcription of Rameau's Pièces de clavecin, the violinist began work with Gary Cooper on an eight-volume recording of Mozart's complete Sonatas for violin and piano for the Channel Classics label (2005-2009). Meanwhile, in 2007, she founded her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque, to accompany her in her interpretations of works by Bach and other composers of the Baroque era. At the same time, she turned her attention to teaching, teaching at the Guildhall School, the Royal College of Wales, the Hochschule Bremen and the Royal Danish Academy. Since 2008, she has also been professor of violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, without abandoning her solo career. In addition to the Guardian Angel baroque recital (2013), the Bach specialist also records works by Biber(Rosary Sonatas) and Vivaldi(L'Estro Armonico and The Four Seasons). In addition to the album of Bach Violin Concertos released in 2018, she has recorded transcriptions of theArt of the Fugue (2016), the Cello Suites (2019) and the Goldberg Variations (2023). In addition, the violinist and conductor signs the recitals Tutta Sola (2022) and The Muses Restor'd (2024), then returns to one of her favorite composers in Just Biber (2025), which, under its title in the form of a nod to the Canadian singer, brings together a selection of six sonatas.