One of the leading figures in music performance since the second half of the
20th century, John Eliot Gardiner was born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, England.
He trained at Cambridge University before studying music at King's College
London with Thurston Dart, then in Paris with Nadia Boulanger in 1967-1968. In
1964, at the age of twenty, he founded the Monteverdi Choir, which quickly
established itself as a key player in the revival of Baroque music. In 1969, he
made his debut at London's Promenade Concerts and conducted his first opera,
Mozart's The Magic Flute, at the London Coli...