Bridget Cunningham

Bridget Cunningham directs Caio Fabbricio brilliantly, leading from the harpsichord to energise the other players, and to give them space to exploit juicy passages. The singers’ virtuosity and rich characterisations are delightful… Caio Fabbricio contains much fine music and compels fresh admiration of Handel’s orchestral skills. Execution of this project is uniformly excellent   BBC Music Magazine, 2022

Handel has never sounded better ★★★★★ 5 Stars BBC Music Magazine 

Bridget Cunningham is a British-Irish prizewinning harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist, specialising in baroque repertoire. She trained at the Royal College of Music, London with a Fellowship and is currently undertaking her doctoral studies through Oxford, Open and Cambridge Universities. Cunningham has conducted, researched, edited and created new scores of hundreds of relatively unknown baroque arias and a series of Handel recordings with Signum Classics. These albums have been released worldwide and include Handel in Italy, Caio Fabbricio, Handel at Vauxhall and Handel’s Queens, shortlisted for a Gramophone Award nomination 2020.

Cunningham has a wide experience of directing and guest conducting baroque music with performances of Purcell's Fairy Queen, Handel's Water Music, Semele, Caio Fabbricio, Cesare, Vivaldi’s Gloria for all-female choir  and a vast range of music by Hasse, Haydn, Porpora, Telemann, Bach, Scarlatti, Monteverdi, Lully and Rameau. She conducted a world premiere BBC commission River for London Early Opera by Grace Evangeline Mason celebrating the 300th Anniversary of Handel's Water Music – broadcast live on the River Thames. Her performances at venues and festivals across the world include the Teatro Petruzzelli Bari, the Pietà Venice, Yale University, Britten Theatre, St John's Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Festi Classique France, East Cork Early Music Festival and the Innsbruck Festival.

Cunningham has released three solo harpsichord albums, Handel’s Eight Great Harpsichord Suites Handel in Ireland and the world-premiere of the Eight Harpsichord Suites of the Irish baroque composer, Thomas Roseingrave. Her solo harpsichord performances include playing at Maison Hine Cognac, The Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, England, London Handel Festival, the Foundling Museum, Handel Hendrix Museum, Oxford and Cambridge Club, Victoria International Arts Festival for the Prime Minister of Malta and for the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace.