Laurence Cummings
“Period performance is not about finding truth so much as finding a way to move the soul of the listener”
The new music director of the legendary Academy of Ancient Music tells Daniel Jaffé how Handel changed his life, and of the vibrancy and continuing relevance of 18th-century music
Most musicians, one imagines, would be content with being recognised as a world leading specialist in a composer such as Handel. Laurence Cummings, however, who has just become artistic director of one of the most celebrated of period instrument orchestras, is eager to achieve more. ‘The nice thing about starting with the Academy of Ancient Music is that it’s not a Handel outfit – it does a very broad repertoire,’ he says. ‘And I would like to remind everyone else that I do other music! There’s been a lot of Handel in my life, and
