Raymond Leppard (1927-2019)

Raymond Leppard served as Music Director and chief conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1987 to 2001. His life and musical career began in England. Born in London and raised in Bath, he started piano lessons at the age of five, continuing with music even after his parents hoped he would pursue medicine. At Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied harpsichord and viola and developed a deep love for early and Baroque music. He later remarked that he found much contemporary music needlessly complex or dull.

Leppard became known for reconstructing works from the earliest years of opera. “I needed to find the life in something other people thought was dead,” he said. He brought these pieces to modern audiences with lush, full-orchestra arrangements — an approach that drew criticism from advocates of historically informed performance, who favored period instruments and original scoring.

During the early 1960s, he began conducting the English Chamber Orchestra, with whom he made many of the more than 200 recordings produced over his lifetime. He composed the film score for Lord of the Flies in 1963, followed by several other movie scores. In 1976, he came to the United States, seeking, among other goals, to broaden both his repertoire and his reputation as a guest conductor.

Leppard initially rejected the offer to become music director in Indianapolis in 1982, thinking “absolutely not.” But with time — and with the promise of dedicated musicians, a well-funded orchestra, and a former movie palace transformed into a fine concert hall — he reconsidered. Five years later, he accepted the position, believing, “Well, it might work; something really might happen here.”

Under his leadership, something did happen. The orchestra’s sound grew richer, it made new recordings, and it toured Europe. With a strengthened budget and endowment, it became one of the few orchestras of the era able to provide its musicians with a full 52-week contract. Meanwhile, Leppard continued to appear as a guest conductor around the world. Indianapolis ultimately became his home, and he remained there even after retiring from full-time conducting.

Queen Elizabeth II named Leppard a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), and the Italian government honored him as a Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana for his service to Italian music.

You can hear his arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon in D here.