| Biography | Philip Pickett (born 19 November 1950, London, England) is an English musician, recorder player and director of early music ensembles, notably The New London Consort.
]Philip Pickett began as a trumpet player. He played trumpet while student at Marling School, Stroud, Gloucestershire. He met Antony Baines and David Munrow who encouraged him to try early woodwind instruments such as the recorder, shawm and rackett. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London[citation needed]. He was forced to give up the trumpet after being kicked in the mouth while being assaulted on the London Underground at the end of his first year there. In 1972 he became Professor of Recorder and Historical Performance, a post he held for 25 years. He has played for the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, The English Concert, the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and many other orchestras.
The Alchemist[edit]Pickett introduced theatrical elements into his concerts, including foyer performances of juggling and fire-eating. In 1976 he joined the Albion Band, a folk-rock band led by Ashley Hutchings. They played a mixture of traditional folk music and medieval tunes on a wide range of instruments - curtals, shawms, recorders, crumhorns, bagpipes, rackets, chalumeaux and synthesiser. Also in the group was John Sothcott from the early music group St George's Canzona, playing vielle, citole and crumhorn. Philip was on all four singles by the group. In 1988 he released his only solo album, appropriately called The Alchemist. It included a few of his own compositions in a mock-medieval style.
In 1993 he became artistic director of the Purcell Room Early Music series. In the same year he was appointed director of Early Music at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, which is a within a mile of the Purcell Room. His ensemble, The Musicians of the Globe, specialised in English music from the 16th and 17th centuries. CDs were sold, in particular at the Pickett leads The New London Consort simultaneously with the musicians of the Globe. This has a wider repertoire, covering English, Spanish, Italian and German medieval and Renaissance music. Much of the material is drawn from Philip's original research in the libraries of Europe. From 1994 to 1997 he was founder and director of the Aldeburgh Early Music Festival. |