Biography Terence Charlston is a specialist performer on early keyboard instruments and widely acknowledged for his engaging and expressive performances. He has been described as one of Britain’s leading early keyboard players and his sympathetic command of original instruments has made him a frequent performer at collections of early keyboard instruments all over the world.

Terence Charlston was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. From an early age, he was drawn to the sound and repertoire of old instruments, especially the harpsichord, which he first experienced through recordings and BBC Radio 3 broadcasts. He studied piano and organ from childhood and later took degrees in Oxford and London, specialising in early keyboard performance. As a solo harpsichordist and chamber musician he has toured extensively within Europe, as well as to Japan and the USA. He is well known to chamber music audiences, especially for his work with the quartet London Baroque with whom he gave over 400 concerts worldwide between 1995 and 2007.

He has a wide interest in keyboard music of all periods and his harpsichord and organ recordings have been well received in the musical press. His recorded repertoire is particularly broad (over 50 commercial CDs on harpsichord, organ, virginals, clavichord and fortepiano) and can be heard on the Deux-Elles, Harmonia Mundi, Naxos, ASV, Channel Classics and BIS labels. Recent recordings include Baroque music on the Silbermann style organ belonging to the St. Albans International Organ Festival and a recital of Italian harpsichord music by Monza, Pasquina and Monari. For the National Trust he has recorded all the playable keyboard instruments of the Fenton House Collection in Hampstead, London. 

In addition to an international performing career, he is much in demand as a teacher. He taught academic studies, performance practice and harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music, London where he founded the department of Historical Performance (1995) and now teaches basso continuo and clavichord. He also lectures for the London centre of Lawrence University, Wisconsin and has given master classes in Italy, Germany, Greece, USA and Mexico. In September 2007 he was invited to join the staff of the Royal College of Music, London as professor of harpsichord and consultant for historical keyboard studies.

His fascination with 17^th century English music has resulted in a number of pioneering concerts and recording projects. These include a recording of all Matthew Locke’s organ and harpsichord music (Deux-Elles DXL 1047) and a recording and interactive edition of the keyboard music of Albertus Bryne (Deux-Elles DXL 1024 and Norsk Musikforlag A/S.) He is currently preparing editions and recordings of Carlo Ignazio Monza’s Pièces modernes pour le Clavecin and music by William Byrd from the Ladye Nevell Booke.

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Double manual harpsichord after Ruckers 1624 by Andrew Garlick, 1998.

'Continuo playing is, then, basically very similar to the method practised by nature's musicians, the adaptation of an accompaniment to a given melody, as they feel it; the similarity being so great, one can regard continuo as simply a more complete version of these methods.' 
Arnold Schoenberg, Style and Idea, Berkeley, 1975, p.306.

'Purely objective artistic representation is however the hardest of all, and is accomplished and understood only by a few. The lack of the same gives rise so often to false pretension instead of modest understanding and pure joy through being completely lost in beautiful works of art.'
Friedrich Conrad Griepenkerl on performing J.S.Bach's Chromatic Fantasia.

'It's the kind of reflective music that those of us who want to peer into music and have a profound experience rather than an immediately thrilling one find so very exciting.'
Vernon Handley on Vaughan Williams' Symphony no.6

'All you need in life is ignorance and confidence, then success is assured.' Mark Twain, 1887.

'It is better to remain silent and be assumed a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.'
Mark Twain, Letter to Mr. Foote, 2 Dec., 1887.