PAUL BARRITT (violin) was until July 2022 Permanent Guest Leader of the Hallé Orchestra, having previously held the position of leader of the Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra. His numerous recordings include the complete violin sonatas of Howells, Ireland, Stanford and Schoeck as well as the salon pieces of Albert Sammons (‘The English Kreisler’), the violin works of Rheinberger, and Antony Hopkins’ Partita for solo violin. With James Lisney he has recorded the complete Beethoven violin and piano music and the Brahms Violin Sonatas and performed the complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle some 21 times.
Career highlights have included a tour, as soloist and director, to mark the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence. He also directed Isaac Stern’s 75th birthday concert at the Barbican and played Arvo Pärt’s ‘Fratres’ at the same hall in the presence of the composer. Also memorable were performances of Bach Double Concerto with Igor Oistrakh at the Barbican and with Maxim Vengerov at the Proms, as well as Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending with the Hallé. Recent chamber music engagements have taken him to Munich and Manchester as well as concerts in the Ardèche, France.
This last season he has been guest leading the Orchestra of St Johns, as well as appearing as soloist/director with orchestras in Wendover and London and at the St Endellion Festival, Cornwall. In recent years Paul has been much in demand, giving talks with live music on the subject of Birds and Music, most notably for the Linnean Society of London.