About

Lutenist Richard Stone has performed as soloist and accompanist worldwide. The New York Times called his playing “beautiful” and “lustrously melancholy,” while the Washington Post described it as having “the energy of a rock solo and the craft of a classical cadenza.” He founded and co-directs Philadelphia baroque orchestra Tempesta di Mare.

Soloist engagements have included a two-season nationwide tour of the complete Bach lute suites, and lute concerti with the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and Cleveland baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire. Solo recordings include the world premiere of the complete lute concerti of Weiss, the Fasch lute concerto, lute suites of Silvius Leopold Weiss, and new theorbo music by David Loeb. A‑R Editions has published Stone’s reconstructions of these concerti in its Recent Researches series.

Richard Stone is also one of the most highly regarded baroque vocal accompanists on lute, archlute and theorbo in the United States. He has accompanied today’s best-known vocal artists, including Christine Goerke, Lorraine Hunt, Julianne Baird, Christine Brandes, Jeffrey Thomas and Drew Minter. He has played with Taverner Players, Smithsonian Chamber Players, Consort of Musicke, Apollo’s Fire, Handel and Haydn Society, New York Collegium, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera and Mark Morris Dance Group. Recording and broadcast credits include Deutsche Grammophon, Lyrichord, PGM, Musical Heritage, Polygram, Vienna Modern Masters, ATMA, Eklecta, Centaur, Bis, Chesky, NPR, BBC CBC, and Czech Radio 3-Vltava.

Richard is instructor of baroque lute and theorbo and a vocal coach at the Peabody Conservatory. He studied guitar with David Starobin at SUNY Purchase, then lute with Nigel North as a Fulbright Lusk Fellow at the Guildhall School in London, and with Patrick O’Brien at the Mannes College of Music in New York.