Margaret Faultless is a violinist and director; performing music from Monteverdi to the present day, she is best known as a specialist in eighteenth-century repertoire. She has been a co-leader of The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment since 1989, working with Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Mark Elder, Ivan Fischer, Vladimir Jurowski and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She directed the orchestra on its first trip to Mexico, at the gala re-opening of The Royal Festival Hall and in series of concerts of Italian baroque repertoire. She is a member of the orchestra's board of directors.
Besides OAE, she has directed Britten-Pears Baroque, the European Union Baroque Orchestra, Philharmonie Merck and The Harmony of Nations on European tours. In 2008 she directed the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra in a series of concerts.
She appeared as guest leader of the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and in 2008 was in Moscow with Vladimir Jurowski to coach and lead the Russian National Orchestra in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. She coached the Zurich Chamber Orchestra at the invitation of Sir Roger Norrington and has been a guest leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
For over twelve years Margaret led the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman, including the ten-year project performing and recording all the Bach cantatas. She made her BBC Proms debut as soloist with the ABO in 1997.
In 1996, together with her husband Simon Whistler, she founded the ensemble Music for Awhile. In addition to instrumental programmes, it performs English baroque opera, masques and theatre music and has created new works using poetry with music. The summer festival at Alton Priors and series of chamber concerts enjoy a very special place in the musical landscape of the area.
In 2000, Margaret was invited to become Artistic Director of Devon Baroque. She has since directed over 100 performances, including oratorio, opera and many concerto appearances as soloist and the group has built a significant presence in the West Country, especially known for ‘Experience’ weekends at Dartington Hall.
For ten years, Margaret was a member of The London Haydn Quartet, whose CD of Haydn string quartets Opus 9 on the Hyperion label was hailed as “one of the great Haydn quartet recordings.” The Opus 17 discs were released in 2009. She also appears as a duo with pianist Adrian Partington, focusing on the sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms.
A graduate of Cambridge University, Margaret is now an Artistic Director of the Cambridge University Collegium Musicum. She lectures on performance practice, is Director of Studies of the European Union Baroque Orchestra, and is a frequent guest teacher and director at leading conservatories. She has been recently elected a Fellow of Girton College and appointed Director of Performance Studies at the Music Faculty of Cambridge University.
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