Dubbed ‘‘The Indiana Jones of Early Music’’ by BBC Radio 3, Julian Perkins brings a dynamic and adventurous spirit to all his music-making. Based in the UK and of dual British-Italian citizenship, he enjoys a busy and varied international career as a conductor/director, chamber musician and solo keyboard player. He is Artistic Director of Portland Baroque Orchestra in Oregon, USA, and Founding Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera and the period-instrument ensemble Sounds Baroque in the UK.
Julian has been praised in print as both conductor and keyboard soloist for his ‘‘demonic intensity’’ (BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Month), ‘‘fluid and natural pacing’’ (Gramophone Editor's Choice) and ‘‘verve and suavity’’ (Classical Music), conducting ‘‘as if every bar means the world to him’’ (Opera Disc of the Month), and giving ‘‘performances that reach to the heart of the music’’ (International Record Review). He was shortlisted for the 2021 Gramophone Award for his recording of Eccles’s Semele, and in August 2023 his latest clavichord disc, Handel's Attick, was Instrumental Choice in BBC Music Magazine.
With Sounds Baroque, Julian has directed many acclaimed performances with such singers as Dame Emma Kirkby, Helen Charlston, Anna Dennis, Rebecca Evans, James Gilchrist, Benjamin Hulett, Mark Padmore, Christopher Purves, Carolyn Sampson and Lawrence Zazzo. His appearances include directing ground-breaking performances of new pasticcio operas, co-created with librettist Stephen Pettitt, which tell cogent stories, challenging notions of “authenticity”. He has also directed numerous other ensembles ranging from the Academy of Ancient Music, Croatian Baroque Ensemble, Deutsche Händel-Solisten, New London Singers and Tesserae Baroque to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra & Charlotte Master Chorale, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and St Paul's Sinfonia. He has led many Baroque and Classical projects with London's Sinfonia Smith Square, Oregon Bach Festival and the conservatoires in Amsterdam, The Hague and London, and conducted acclaimed staged and concert productions ranging from over a dozen of Handel's operas and oratorios to Stephen Dodgson's opera, Margaret Catchpole. In the earlier part of his career, he benefited from working closely with leading conductors including Christopher Hogwood, Vladimir Jurowski and Trevor Pinnock.
As a keyboard player, Julian has often performed at the Salzburg Festival and given concerto performances with ensembles including the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium and Orchestra of The Sixteen. He has appeared as solo harpsichordist/fortepianist with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper and Welsh National Opera, among others. Active as a recitalist, Julian frequently performs with renowned instrumentalists and singers including his wife, Emma Abbate. He features on many radio stations and breaks new ground at international festivals by giving solo clavichord concerts. His prize-winning discography includes world-première recordings of over thirty works by composers ranging from Daniel Purcell to Héloïse Werner.
An advocate of what he terms ‘‘Historically Inspired Performance’’, Julian enjoys giving masterclasses both at music colleges and universities in the UK and abroad and at the National Opera Studio in London. Plans for 2025/2026 include masterclasses and workshops at The Juilliard School in New York and the Venice Conservatory. He has also written a variety of published articles on performance practice and reached a global audience through Handel's Green Room, a series of online discussions devised with Cambridge Handel Opera and the scholar Dr Ruth Smith.
​Believing that performing musicians have much in common with athletes, Julian admires Novak Djokovic's discipline – and aims to emulate various aspects of his lifestyle. His own sporting prowess, however, is somewhat limited, and he invariably loses at football to his pre-teenage twin sons.
