Farncombe, Charles (1919– )

English conductor. He has translated many Handel operas and has performed them in a style which attempts to recreate 18th-century performing practice.

He studied in London and in 1955 founded the Handel Opera Society. Its first production was Deidemia, followed by many important revivals, including Alcina, Semele, Rodelinda, Serse, and Ottone. He took the Society to several European festivals, including Drottningholm, where he was music director 1970–79. He was chief guest conductor at Karlsruhe from 1979 and became music director of the London Chamber Opera in 1983. Recordings include Handel's Rodrigo and Jean-Philippe Rameau's Castor et Pollux.