Robert Hollingworth has spent much of his life thinking about how audiences receive music instead of just how performers are used to delivering it. In 1986 he founded ‘musical shapeshifters’ I Fagiolini, who have presented many signature projects ‘following [his] giddy, eclectic imagination wherever it leads’ (The Spectator). Under Hollingworth’s expert direction, I Fagiolini has won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Ensemble Award, a Gramophone Award, a Diapason d’Or de l’Année, and a Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in the Early Music category for its Wilbye album.

Robert has directed The English Concert, the BBC Concert Orchestra, RIAS Kammerchor (Purcell as part of the Barocktage collaboration with the Staatsoper Berlin), VOCES8 & VOCES8 Scholars with the Academy of Ancient Music (Bach’s Actus tragicus and Duruflé’s Requiem), the Irish Baroque Orchestra (Handel’s Messiah), and some of the world’s finest chamber choirs, including Capella Cracoviensis, Accentus, the NDR Chor, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Chamber Choir Ireland and BBC Singers.

Projects include a new collaboration as musical director of Clorinda Agonistes with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, multiple performances in The VOCES8 Foundation’s LIVE From London festivals, an educational and outreach series Sing The Score (funded by the University of York), and a podcast ‘choral chat’ collaboration, Choral Chihuahua, with Eamonn Dougan.

Robert is the Artistic Director of the Stour Music Festival, succeeding Mark and Alfred Deller. He is Reader in Music at the University of York, where he founded and leads the MA in Solo Voice Ensemble Singing course and directs university chamber choir The 24.