Raymond Leppard

Raymond Leppard, CBE (born 11 August 1927) is a British conductor and harpsichordist.

He was born in London and grew up in Bath, where he was educated at the City of Bath Boys' School, now known as the Beechen Cliff School. A student of harpsichord and viola at Trinity College, Cambridge, he also was active as a choral conductor and served as music director of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society.

In the 1960s, Leppard played an instrumental role in the rebirth of interest in baroque music; in particular, he was one of the first major conductors to perform baroque opera.

In 1952 he made his London debut and then conducted his own Leppard Ensemble. He became closely associated with the Goldsbrough Orchestra, which became the English Chamber Orchestra in 1960. Also, he gave recitals as harpsichordist, and was a fellow of Trinity College and a lecturer in music from 1958 to 1968. He retired from his post as Director of Music at Trinity College in 1968, being succeeded by Richard Marlow.

In 1957 he conducted a concert featuring the four harpsichordists George Malcolm, Eileen Joyce, Thurston Dart and Denis Vaughan. In 1969 he himself was one of the 4 harpsichordists in a similar concert, this time the other players being Eileen Joyce, Geoffrey Parsons and Simon Preston, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner.

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