- He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the British Empire) in 1990.
- Cousin of Howard Hodgkin.
- He founded the Monteverdi Choir (1964), the English Baroque Soloists (1978) and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (1989).
- Gardiner has recorded over 250 albums, most of which have been published by Deutsche Grammophon and Philips Classics, and by the Soli Deo Gloria label, which specialises in recordings by Gardiner and by his ensembles.
- Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, but his repertoire and discography are not limited to early music. With the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Gardiner has performed a wide range of Classical and Romantic music, including many works of Berlioz and all of Beethoven's symphonies. A recording of the third symphony of the latter was used in a dramatisation by the BBC of Beethoven's writing of that symphony.
- He received an Honorary doctorate from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 2023.
- After his period with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Gardiner went to France. From 1983 to 1988 he was Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon. During his period with the Opéra he founded an entirely new orchestra. During his time with the Opéra National de Lyon Gardiner was also Artistic Director of the Göttingen Handel Festival (1981 until 1990).
- Gardiner is also well known for his refusal to perform the music of Richard Wagner; in a 2008 interview for Gramophone Gardiner said, 'I really loathe Wagner - everything he stands for - and I don't even like his music very much.'.
- In 2013, Gardiner published the book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.
- Gardiner has served as chief conductor of the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as guest conductor with such major orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic.
- In 2014 he started a five-year term as President of the Leipzig Bach Archive, being succeeded by Ton Koopman in that position in 2019. One of the realizations during Gardiner's presidency was the Archive's collaboration to the Bach 333 box set with the complete recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's works, released in 2018.
- Gardiner is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Bach's church cantatas in liturgical order in churches all over Europe, and New York City.
- He was educated at Bryanston School, then studied history at King's College, Cambridge, where his tutor was the social anthropologist Edmund Leach.
- In late 2004, Gardiner toured France and Spain with the Monteverdi Choir performing pieces from the Codex Calixtinus in cathedrals and churches along the Camino de Santiago.
- A self-taught musician who also played the violin, he began to study conducting at the age of 15.
- English journalist, editor and author Damian Thompson said about Gardiner: "There are few things this conductor can't do. But one art eludes him: good manners.".
- In his spare time, Gardiner runs a farm at Springhead near Fontmell Magna[46] in North Dorset, which was established by his great-uncle, composer Henry Balfour Gardiner. His continued involvement in this project has earned him the nickname 'Uphill Gardiner' as a consequence of his unorthodox farming methods.
- In 2000, Gardiner set out on his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing, over a 52-week period, all of Bach's sacred cantatas in churches around Europe and the United States.
- In late 2012, citing health concerns, he cancelled his planned December 2013 tour of Australia with the Monteverdi Choir and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
- In August 2014, Gardiner was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that subject.
- While an undergraduate at Cambridge he launched his career as a conductor with a performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine by Monteverdi, in King's College Chapel on 5 March 1964. This either featured or led to the foundation of the Monteverdi Choir, with which he made his London conducting debut at the Wigmore Hall in 1966.
- A European tour in 1993 with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique featured Berlioz's rediscovered Messe solennelle. Beginning in Bremen, Germany the tour ended with a recorded performance in Westminster Cathedral, London 1993.
- Gardiner has been the subject of various allegations of rudeness and bullying of performers and colleagues.
- On 24 August 2023 he withdrew from all engagements in 2023, including The Proms, amid accusations he slapped and punched in the face bass singer William Thomas as Thomas exited the podium on the wrong side after a concert in France.
- In 1990, Gardiner formed a new period-instrument orchestra, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to perform music of the 19th century.
- In August 2023, Gardiner was alleged to have slapped across the face and then punched the English bass singer, William Thomas, in front of cast members after Thomas exited the wrong side of the stage after a performance of Les Troyens at the Berlioz Festival in La Côte Saint André. This resulted in a public backlash against the conductor and him cancelling all 2023 commitments.
- After graduating in history, Gardiner continued his musical studies at King's College London under Thurston Dart and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, whose music had been a very early influence.
- Whilst at Cambridge, he conducted the Oxford and Cambridge Singers on a concert tour of the Middle East.
- He received a Grammy for Best Choral Performance in 1994.
- He was awarded with the "Bach Prize of the Royal Academy of Music-Kohn Foundation" in 2008.
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