Iain Ledingham gained a degree in music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. He subsequently  studied piano, harpsichord and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. He was appointed a Professor of Piano there in 1981 and was awarded a Fellowship for the academic year 1983-1984. He has broadcast frequently on BBC Radio 3 as an accompanist for singers and instrumentalists.

 

In 1981 he joined the music staff of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and played harpsichord continuo for a number of productions. In 1984 he made his Queen Elizabeth Hall debut in harpsichord concertos by Bach.

 

Iain formed the South Bucks Choral Society in 1980 and has performed many major choral works with that society. In 1983, he founded the Amersham Festival of Music and has been its Artistic Director ever since. He established the Festival Chamber Orchestra in 1986 and has conducted them in a wide range of symphonic and operatic works, as well as playing and directing many of the major Mozart piano concertos.

 

In 1996 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. As a professor at the Academy he coaches many young singers and instrumentalists in preparation for operatic and concert work and often trains and conducts choirs there.

 

From 2000-2003 he was Director of Opera at the Royal Academy of Music, responsible for planning and overseeing the first two years of the Academy’s new opera course, Royal Academy Opera. The course rapidly achieved an excellent reputation, attracting outstandingly talented young singers from far and wide. In 2003 Iain returned to full-time work as a coach, pianist and conductor, and is greatly enjoying working with many young singers and accompanists at the RAM. 

 

In 2008 he was appointed musical director of a major new series of concerts at the Royal Academy of Music, which will feature all of Bach’s Church Cantatas in nine concerts per year over the next eight years. The series is regularly attracting capacity audiences and the exploration of Bach’s 200 Cantatas is proving to be a most rewarding and inspiring project.