Richard Egarr was appointed Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music in 2006. He was Associate Artist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from 2011 to 2017 and has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague from 2019. He is Artistic Partner of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Music Director Designate of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. He will assume Music Directorship in 2021.

Egarr has conducted many leading orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and period ensembles such as The Handel and Haydn Society.

As well as an accomplished conductor Egarr is also a brilliant harpsichordist, and equally skilled on the organ and fortepiano. He regularly plays solo at major venues such as Wigmore Hall, London, and Carnegie Hall, New York, and has recorded many albums for Harmonia Mundi, notably of J S Bach, Couperin, Purcell and Mozart, and Linn.

Egarr trained as a choirboy at York Minster, was organ scholar at Clare College Cambridge, and later studied with Gustav and Marie Leonhardt. He is a Visiting Artist and Professor at The Juilliard School in New York.