Roger Norrington

He was a guest conductor for major orchestras and an advisor to musical societies.

Roger Norrington studied at Clare College, Dragon School and Westminster School. Jeannette Sorrell is recorded as having studied under Roger Norrington. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is music and Baroque music. Places of work recorded in the authority are England. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg, Austrian Decoration for Science and Art and Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Norrington was born in Oxford on 16 March 1934, the son of Edith Joyce (née Carver) and Arthur Norrington, who later became president of Trinity College, Oxford. His younger brother was Humphrey Thomas Norrington. During World War II, the family was evacuated to Canada. Returning when he was age 10, he took violin lessons, and acted in school productions at Dragon School and Westminster School. He then served in the army in Bournemouth as an RAF fighter controller. Norrington studied history and literature at Clare College, Cambridge from 1954 to 1957, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. He sang in the Clare College Choir, and studied music simultaneously: violin with Beryl Ireland and voice with Roy Henderson. He then worked for Oxford University Press publishing religious books. He also played as an amateur violinist in an orchestra and in chamber music ensembles, and sang tenor in choirs; he gained opera experience by performing and conducting with the Chelsea Opera Group.

Norrington discovered the music of Heinrich Schütz in the early 1960s, and founded the Schütz Choir (later the Schütz Choir of London) in 1962, planning to perform as much of the composer's music as possible. Keith Falkner, principal of the Royal College of Music, was in the audience at one of their concerts, and encouraged Norrington to study conducting. Norrington resigned his publishing post and studied conducting with Sir Adrian Boult, among others, from 1962 to 1964. The Schütz Choir's first concert with an orchestra on period instruments was Handel's Messiah in 1972, followed by Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine.

From 1969 to 1984, Norrington was the music director of Kent Opera, where he conducted over 400 performances of more than 40 productions. In 1978, he founded the London Classical Players. Their recording of Beethoven's Symphonies, from 1987 to 1990, caused a sensation by using period instruments, placing the second violins opposite the first, having a different relation of string players to winds and brass, and in fast tempo according to Beethoven's metronome markings. They then explored the repertoire further. Norrington remained their musical director until 1997. From 1985 to 1989, he was the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He was also president of the Oxford Bach Choir. From 1990 to 1994, he was music director of the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York City. With his wife, the choreographer Kay Lawrence, he formed in 1984 the Early Opera Project to complement his concert work in period-style opera, beginning with Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino that year, and touring Britain in 1986.

In Europe, Norrington was the principal conductor of Camerata Salzburg from 1997 to 2007, and the principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2011. On 28 July 2016, he conducted the final concert of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in London at the Royal Albert Hall as part of The Proms, before its scheduled merger with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg.

Norrington became best known for historically informed performances of not only Baroque music, but also music from the Classical and Romantic periods. He advocated limited or no use of vibrato in orchestral performances, claiming that orchestras did not use it until the 1930s, which brought him controversial criticism. He followed Beethoven's original metronome markings in his symphonies strictly, rejecting the common speculation that these markings were "miscalculated". With sparse use of vibrato, often very fast tempos, and a different placement of the instruments, especially first and second violins on opposite sides of the podium, he developed a specific sound, especially with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, which was often dubbed by the trade press as Stuttgart Sound. This refers to the synthesis of historically informed music making with the means of a flexible modern orchestra. Symphonic cycles that Norrington interpreted with the orchestra have received worldwide acclaim. Critics included Hermann Voss, the violist of the Melos Quartet, who drew two tough caricatures of Norrington's vibrato-free string sound in 2005, adding: "Except for the Stuttgart Feuilleton, the New Stuttgart Style finds only contempt and scorn."

In August 2008, Norrington appeared in the reality TV talent show-themed television series Maestro on BBC Two, leading the judging panel. He conducted the First Night of The Proms in 2006 and the Last Night of The Proms in 2008.

Norrington was married twice. He married Susan McLean May in 1964, with whom he had two children. The couple divorced in 1982. In 1986, he married Kay Lawrence, a dancer and choreographer; the couple had one child. In November 2021, Norrington announced his retirement. Norrington, who lived near Exeter in Devon, died at home on 18 July 2025, aged 91.

Recordings with Decca Records include: Heroes, 1999, with Andreas Scholl and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment OCLC 1454977512 Bach: Cantatas Nos. 82, 158 & 56, 1999, with Matthias Goerne and Camerata Salzburg OCLC 44119025

The Rossini Bicentennial Birthday Gala, 1994 OCLC 659123457

Recordings with Erato Records include:

Recordings with Sony Classical Records include: Beethoven and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos, 2002 with Joshua Bell (violin), Camerata Salzburg OCLC 314084714

Recordings with SWR Classic, with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, include: Beethoven: Overtures, 2022, OCLC 1373413474 Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (Live), 2020, Gächinger Kantorei OCLC 1255958866 Beethoven: Missa Solemnis In D Major, Op. 123, 2007, NDR Chor, SWR Vokalensemble OCLC 840104675 Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1–8 (Fragments), 2003 OCLC 1444814926

Norrington was appointed OBE in 1980, CBE in 1990, and Knight Bachelor in 1997. He was awarded the Cavaliere of the Italian Republic in 1980 and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012.

1991 University of York 1995 University of Kent 2016 Royal College of Music and 1997 Prince Consort Professor of Historical Performance