Richard Gowers

Richard Gowers, born 1994 in Cambridge, is a British pianist, organist, harpsichordist and conductor. He studied at the Mendelssohn Conservatoire, Leipzig, King’s College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar, and at the Royal Academy of Music, where he took a Masters in Piano Accompaniment with Michael Dussek and Joseph Middleton, specialising in Lieder.

As a Lieder pianist he has appeared at Leeds Lieder Festival, Wigmore Hall and as a finalist in several song competitions, including the Helmut Deutsch Liedwettbewerb in Vienna and the Wigmore Hall International Song Competition. He has made radio appearances with the BBC Singers, and on Radio 3’s In Tune with Mary Bevan.

In the past year he has performed extensively in the county’s leading orchestras, including Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony (LSO/Rattle) and Elgar’s ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ (LPO/Gardiner) at the BBC Proms, and continuo for the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He performed Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the Orion Orchestra (Nicholas Daniel) and Worthing Philharmonic (Dominic Grier).

In his extensive work as an organist, Richard Gowers kicked off the 2022-23 season with the Saint-Saëns ‘Organ’ Symphony with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, followed by his Italian recital debut in Bergamo. He has previously appeared as a recitalist across Europe, most recently in Sweden and Germany, and further afield in the USA and Australia. His 2018 disc of Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur was a Gramphone ‘Editor’s Choice’.

Aside from performing, Richard Gowers is the Director of Music at St Saviour’s, Pimlico, where he curates the chamber music and Lieder series Pimlico Lunchtime Concerts. He teaches harpsichord at Westminster School, and runs a harmony preparation course for Cambridge University.