Artistic Director

Ricard Bordas – Artistic Director

Conductor, countertenor, educator and Grammy nominee Ricard Bordas graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London. Diana, Princess of Wales, presented the DipRAM to Mr. Bordas who also won several competitions and awards including the honorary and prestigious ARAM for a distinguished international career.

Since the age of seventeen, Mr. Bordas has conducted choirs and chamber groups in the US, Spain and Britain. He was assistant conductor of the Catalan National Choir, Orfeó Català and conducted the children’s choir of the prestigious choral institution touring extensively in Europe. After moving to London Mr. Bordas founded the London Camerata Hispánica. One of his recordings for the BBC Radio earned the best program and a spot in the “BBC Pick of the Week”.

Since arriving in the US, Mr. Bordas has conducted many oratorio works, including Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat, and the opera Carmen by Bizet. As founder and Artistic Director of the Bach Society of Charleston, Mr. Bordas has conducted and sung in many concerts including Bach’ St. John Passion, Cantatas and motets and Handel anthems .

As one of the leading countertenors of his generation, Mr. Bordas has performed in fourteen countries in operas and concerts under renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, René Jacobs, Harry Christophers, Christophe Rousset, Christopher Hogwood and Philippe Herreveghe. He has performed at prestigious venues such as La Scala, the Netherlands Opera, Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Hall, the Spanish National Concert Hall, and the Gaillard Auditorium in Charleston, as well as in many international music festivals including Boston, New York, London Proms, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Mexico City, La Havana, Innsbruck, Dresden, Madrid, Barcelona, Bonn, Utrecht, Granada, Schwetzingen, and Stockholm. Mr. Bordas has recorded for the labels DHS, United, Verany, and Discantus. The opera Psyche by Lully for CPO was nominated for a 2009 Grammy award for the best opera.

Ricard Bordas is Assistant Professor of Music at Charleston Southern University, Artistic Director of the Bach Society of Charleston, Artistic Director of the Charleston Men’s Chorus, Choral Director of Upper School at Ashley Hall, and Director of Choral Music at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston. Mr. Bordas writes for the Spanish classical magazine Revista Musical Catalana.

He is married to soprano Margaret Kelly Cook, and has a son named Mateu.