Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and studied at the Royal College of Music. Recognized as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers, including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bär, Barbara Bonney, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Dame Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel.

He has presented his own series at Wigmore Hall (a Britten and a Poulenc series, and ‘Decade by Decade—100 years of German song’, broadcast by the BBC) and at the Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Wolf). He has appeared throughout Europe, North America and Australia, and at the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh, Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg festivals. Malcolm Martineau has recorded for many labels, and his discs for Hyperion include two volumes of ‘Songs my father taught me’ with Sir Thomas Allen, settings of Pushkin with Joan Rodgers, Britten folk song arrangements, Spanish songs with Sylvia Schwartz, Reger with Sophie Bevan, and three earlier volumes of Debussy songs.

Malcolm was given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. He was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival, and was made an OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours.