Keyboardist, Conductor. A pioneer of period instrument performance, he shall probably be best remembered for his harpsichord interpretations of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Born to a musical family, he was skilled on the harpsichord by 10, had to hide from the Germans during World War II, then studied at the Schola Cantorum of Basil, Switzerland, in the late 1940s and made his professional debut at Vienna in 1950. A professor of harpsichord at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1952 to 1955, he held a similar position at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1954 on, worked as a church organist, and in 1953 cut his first records of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" as well as of the "Art of Fugue", a piece which he argued was composed for keyboard rather than orchestra. In 1954 his Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble (now, Leonhardt Consort) presented two Bach cantatas and over the years he performed and recorded all of the great master's works on repeated occasions; indeed so close was his association with Bach that he was chosen to portray him in the 1968 movie "The Diary of Anna Magdalena Bach". Not restriscting himself to either Bach or the harpsichord he played the music of William Byrd, Mozart, Scarlatti, and others on the organ, clavichord, and fortepiano, and on occasion conducted Baroque operas using the orchestration of the time. A noted teacher with many top-drawer students, he was also a respected competition judge. Leonhardt's honours were many and included the 1980 Erasmus Prize (shared with his friend Nicholas Harnoncourt) for his complete preservation of the Bach cantatas, Commander in the Crown Order of Belgium in 2007, the Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences from his native land in 2009, and multiple honourary doctorates. Remaining active into advanced years he gave his final concert on December 12, 2011, in Paris then announced his retirement due to declining health. His recorded legacy is massive.

Keyboardist, Conductor. A pioneer of period instrument performance, he shall probably be best remembered for his harpsichord interpretations of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Born to a musical family, he was skilled on the harpsichord by 10, had to hide from the Germans during World War II, then studied at the Schola Cantorum of Basil, Switzerland, in the late 1940s and made his professional debut at Vienna in 1950. A professor of harpsichord at the Vienna Academy of Music from 1952 to 1955, he held a similar position at the Amsterdam Conservatory from 1954 on, worked as a church organist, and in 1953 cut his first records of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" as well as of the "Art of Fugue", a piece which he argued was composed for keyboard rather than orchestra. In 1954 his Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble (now, Leonhardt Consort) presented two Bach cantatas and over the years he performed and recorded all of the great master's works on repeated occasions; indeed so close was his association with Bach that he was chosen to portray him in the 1968 movie "The Diary of Anna Magdalena Bach". Not restriscting himself to either Bach or the harpsichord he played the music of William Byrd, Mozart, Scarlatti, and others on the organ, clavichord, and fortepiano, and on occasion conducted Baroque operas using the orchestration of the time. A noted teacher with many top-drawer students, he was also a respected competition judge. Leonhardt's honours were many and included the 1980 Erasmus Prize (shared with his friend Nicholas Harnoncourt) for his complete preservation of the Bach cantatas, Commander in the Crown Order of Belgium in 2007, the Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences from his native land in 2009, and multiple honourary doctorates. Remaining active into advanced years he gave his final concert on December 12, 2011, in Paris then announced his retirement due to declining health. His recorded legacy is massive.

Bio by: Bob Hufford