Since founding The Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, Christopher Hogwood has gained international recognition as a pioneer in the field of historically-informed performance - a principle that can be applied with equal justification throughout his very broad conducting activities, which are not restricted to period-instrument ensembles nor to purely Baroque and Classical programmes. His programming with leading international orchestras and ensembles of modern instruments is especially characterised by illuminating juxtapositions of old and new - for example, Classical and Neo-Classical repertoire, including Martinu, Tippett, Stravinsky and special commissions.

With The AAM Hogwood has a busy schedule of concerts worldwide and a celebrated catalogue of recordings for Decca on the L'Oiseau-Lyre label. Hogwood's other principal conducting contracts include the Kammerorchester Basel, Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Boston's Handel & Haydn Society and the Beethoven Academie in Antwerp. In opera he works with Opera Australia, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Opera Stockholm and begins the coming season with Haydn's Orfeo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In addition to his regular conducting posts other engagements in the coming season include the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and a Benefit Concert for the Cancer Research Campaign with The Academy of Ancient Music and Cecilia Bartoli in Cambridge. He also continues his project of recording the complete Gade Symphonies with Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

With almost a hundred recordings in the Decca catalogue, Hogwood has received many an award for his recordings such as Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito for Decca, with Cecilia Bartoli and The AAM that was awarded the 1995 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and a Grammy nomination in 1996 and his recording of Purcell's The Indian Queen won the 1996 Ein Echo f�r Dresden award for Early Music.

In 1998, many of Hogwood's classic recordings for Decca led the way with the label's successful re-design and launch in its new colours. New releases that year included Bach's Complete Concertos for Harpsichord with Christophe Rousset and Mozart's Piano Concertos K482 and K488 with Robert Levin, fortepiano. Levin and Hogwood's Mozart cycle has attempted to convey some of that spontaneous and exciting atmosphere which would have been part of performances in the composer's time and critics have praised the "exceptional freshness, boldness and imagination" of the discs. Other recent releases with the AAM have been a disc of Bach Wedding Cantatas, recorded with Emma Kirkby, a further disc in the Mozart Piano Concerto cycle with Levin (Concerto No's 5,14, and 16) and a 2CD set of Albinoni Concertos. Last year saw the Vivaldi Violin Sonatas with Andrew Manze, Volume 10 in the Hadyn Symphony series and the eagerly awaited Handel's Rinaldo (original 1711 version) with Cecilia Bartoli and David Daniels. Fairest Isle, a selection of English songs with Barbara Bonney has just been released this year.

The connection between the worlds of musicology and performance is important to Hogwood; with as many as possible of his editorial projects he covers the ground from initial research through to performance or recording. His new edition of the twelve L'Estro Armonico concertos for Eulenberg is being toured throughout Europe by The AAM this summer, from Dubrovnik to Dieppe.

His many publications include a survey of patronage through the ages (Music at Court), biographical studies of Haydn, Mozart and Handel, a survey of the trio sonata, investigations of British music and many editions of keyboard and orchestral music from the sixteenth century onwards.

Hogwood's academic positions include Fellowships at Jesus and Pembroke Colleges, Cambridge, Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, and he works regularly at Harvard University.