As pianist, conductor and recording artist, Howard Shelley has enjoyed a distinguished career since his highly acclaimed London debut in 1971, performing worldwide at major venues and with renowned orchestras. Most of his current work is in the combined role of conductor and soloist. This is reflected in a discography that now exceeds 180 albums and the works of over eighty composers. His recordings of Mozart and his contemporaries have won exceptional praise.

Howard Shelley has conducted all the major London orchestras and his long association with the London Mozart Players has been recognized by the title of Conductor Laureate. He has also been Principal Conductor of Sweden’s Uppsala Chamber Orchestra and has had particularly close relationships with orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, Sinfonia Varsovia, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Västerås Sinfonietta, Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Australia with whom he has recorded many albums for Hyperion.

In 1994 an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Music was conferred on him, and in 2009 he was awarded an OBE for services to classical music. Howard Shelley was married to fellow pianist Hilary Macnamara until her death in 2021 and they have two sons. For Hyperion, Howard Shelley has recorded the complete solo piano music of Rachmaninov, a complete chronological survey of sonatas by Muzio Clementi, and many Classical and Romantic piano concertos. As a conductor he has also recorded the complete symphonies of Louis Spohr and Haydn’s ‘London’ symphonies.