Pearlman, Martin

Pearlman, Martin , noted American conductor, harpsichordist, and composer; b. Chicago, May 21,1945. He received training in composition, violin, piano, and theory in his youth. Following studies in composition with Husa at Cornell Univ. (B.A., 1967), he pursued training in harpsichord with Leonhardt on a Fulbright scholarship in the Netherlands (1967–68). He subsequently took his M.M. in composition under Wyner at Yale Univ. (1971), and also studied with Ralph Kirk-patrick (harpsichord) and Arel (electronic music). In 1972 he won the Erwin Bodky Award and in 1974 he was a prize winner in the Bruges Competition. In 1973 he founded and became music director of Banchetto Musicale, the first permanent Baroque orch. established in North America. In 1992 it was renamed Boston Baroque. From 1976 to 1981 he taught at the Univ. of Mass, in Boston, and also at Brandeis Univ. in 1980–81. As a harpsichordist, Pearlman has become well known for his performances of the Couperin family and of D. Scarlatti. As a conductor, he has led numerous period instrument performances and has given the American premieres of many Baroque and Classical scores, including those of Bach, Handel, Rameau, Mozart, and Beethoven. He has also appeared as a guest conductor of modern instrument groups and sym. orchs., as well as of Baroque ensembles. In 1995 he made his Kennedy Center debut in Washington, D.C., conducting Handel’s Semeie. Pearlman has prepared performing eds. of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Purcell’s Comical History of Don Quixote, and Mozart’s Lo sposo deluso. He has also prepared a complete ed. of the keyboard music of Armand-Louis Couperin.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire