Rate My Professor Maggie Faultless

Professor Margaret Faultless MA Hon RAM Hon FBC FTCL ARCM is an internationally renowned specialist in historical performance practice, performing as a violinist and director from Monteverdi to the present day, with a focus on eighteenth-century repertoire. She serves as Director of Performance at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, where she offers support and advice to students interested in performance. She is also Musician in Residence at St John's College, Bye-Fellow at Girton College, and an Honorary Fellow of Clare College, her alma mater. Additionally, she holds the Becket Chair of Historical Performance and heads the Historical Performance Department at the Royal Academy of Music, and was appointed Professor of the University of London in 2018 for her contributions to the profession, education, and research.

Early in her career, Faultless specialized in contemporary music as first violinist with the ensemble Aquarius, co-leader of the West End musical Chess, assistant leader of the Scottish Ballet Orchestra, and freelancer with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin's in the Fields. She transitioned to historical instruments, becoming a principal player with Roger Norrington's London Classical Players, Andrew Parrott's Taverner Consort, Christopher Hogwood's Academy of Ancient Music, and member of the Gainsborough String Quartet. Since 1989, she has been co-leader of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, frequently directing it and contributing to its education programme. She led the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman for over twelve years, including their complete project to perform and record J.S. Bach's cantatas. Faultless is Director of Studies for the European Union Baroque Orchestra, has directed Philharmonie Merck, the National Orchestra of Portugal, and Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, and guest-led the Handel & Haydn Society, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Russian National Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski. She founded and directed Devon Baroque for twelve years, is Artistic Director of Music for Awhile, was a member of the London Haydn Quartet for ten years, and performs duo sonatas with pianist Adrian Partington. Her research interests encompass distributed leadership in eighteenth-century repertoire and the performers' relationship with notation; she lectures on performance practice and teaches widely, directing orchestras, coaching, auditioning, examining, and supervising dissertations at Cambridge.