Robert King (born 27 June 1960 in Wombourne) is an English conductor, harpsichordist, editor and author. His career has concentrated on period performance of classical music, in particular from the baroque and early modern periods. In 2007, he was convicted of indecent assault: in 2009, he resumed his musical career.
As a youth, he was a member of the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge. He read music at St John's College, Cambridge and in 1980, while still a student, founded the period instrument orchestra The King's Consort. As conductor and artistic director of The King's Consort, King has made more than 100 recordings, mostly for Hyperion Records.
He has worked as a conductor with orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Seattle, Houston, New World, Oregon, Detroit, Atlanta, Minnesota, WDR and NDR Symphony Orchestras, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Munich Radio Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Radio Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Orchestra della RAI Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta Ciudad de Barcelona, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and the Orquesta e Coro Ciudad de Madrid. As a choral conductor, King has worked with the Nederlands Kamerkoor, Orfeo Catala, Orfeón Donostiarra, Swiss Radio Choir and the BBC Singers. Operatic work has included Handel Ottone in Japan and the UK, Handel Ezio in Paris, Purcell The Indian Queen in the UK and Germany, Purcell The Fairy Queen in Spain and Britain and Gluck Armide for Buxton Festival. He has written and presented for the BBC, been artistic director of music festivals in Sweden, Germany, and the UK, and contributed to the scores of a number of Hollywood films including Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek 2, Flushed Away, and The Da Vinci Code.
Besides his work in the field of baroque music, King has conducted a wide spread of classical and early romantic works, symphonic and choral, with a particular focus on the music of Mozart, Haydn and Mendelssohn, and a continuing specialisation in early twentieth century English composers, notably the works of Vaughan Williams, Stanford and Parry.
Having recorded mostly for Hyperion Records from 1987 until 2007, since 2012 he has recorded for the Vivat label, whose debut recording, I Was Glad, reached number 1 in the UK Specialist Classical Albums Chart and was a finalist in the 2013 Gramophone Awards. A series of recordings of the music of Purcell were finalists in the Gramophone awards in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
From 1996-2002 King was a director of PAMRA (Performing Artists Media Rights Association), a UK not-for-profit organisation set up in 1996 as a result of EU directive 92/100/EEC, Article 8(2), which gave performers the right to receive "equitable remuneration". Prior to this, âÂÂnon-featured artistsâ (including backing musicians, orchestral players and choral singers) did not receive royalties when their performances were broadcast or played in public. Involved in complex rights negotiations over his six years on the board, King was one of two PAMRA directors to sign the societyâÂÂs first reciprocal international agreement, that with the Dutch collection society SENA, opening the door to dozens of similar international agreements. By 2002 PAMRA had more than 15,000 members and was paying out millions of pounds in royalties to rank-and-file musicians.
A published author and editor of many scores, principally of baroque music, King wrote a monograph, âÂÂHenry Purcell - "A Greater Musical Genius England Never had"â (London: Thames & Hudson) published in 1995, coinciding with the 300th anniversary of the composer's death in 1695. In 2010 and 2011, two volumes of English church music edited by King were published by Oxford University Press, followed in 2012 and 2014 by editions of choral works by Emanuele d'Astorga and Henry Purcell. A further 90 editions of choral and instrumental music, predominantly from the baroque period but also including substantial choral works by Felix Mendelssohn and Charles Villiers Stanford, have been published by The KingâÂÂs Consort.
In 2007, King was convicted of fourteen charges of historical indecent assault of five males, three under the age of sixteen, between 1983 and 1994; he was acquitted on another charge. King received a sentence of 3 years 9 months and was placed on the sex offenders' register. During the case, King pleaded "not guilty": when questioned if the boys were lying, he replied "absolutely". Following his sentence, King was not prohibited from working with children. In 2013, commenting after criticism for his taking part in a charity fundraising concert, King stated that he had 'accepted my sentence, and have paid my debt to society'.
King is married, with two children.
Founded in 1980 by Robert King, the period instrument orchestra and choir The King's Consort has made more than 100 recordings under King's direction, winning many international awards and selling more than 1,500,000 copies.