Simon Standage is well known as a violinist specialising in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music. Leader and soloist with The English Concert from its foundation until 1990, he fulfilled the same role for many years with the City of London Sinfonia. His discography with The English Concert (their recording of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ was nominated for a Grammy award) is vast, as is that of solo and chamber music – including all Mozart’s violin concertos – with the Academy of Ancient Music, of which he was, with Christopher Hogwood, Associate Director from 1991 to 1995. Since founding Collegium Musicum 90 with the late Richard Hickox, he has made numerous recordings for Chandos Records, which have met with consistent critical acclaim. As a soloist, director of chamber orchestras, and chamber musician he is active both in Britain and abroad, where he has had for some years a regular collaboration with Collegium Musicum Telemann in Osaka and the Haydn Sinfonietta in Vienna. He is theleader of the Salomon String Quartet, which he founded in 1981 and which specialises in historical performance of the classical repertoire, performing worldwide and making many recordings and broadcasts. He received a medal for services to Polish culture in 2008, was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music in 2009, and received the Georg Philipp Telemann Prize from the City of Magdeburg in 2010. Simon Standage is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and teaches at summer courses in Europe and the USA.