Bio
Paul O'dette started playing guitar, then electric guitar in a rock band while in high school in Columbus, Ohio. He then began playing the lute (and archlute) as well as the baroque mandolin and specialised in these instruments and the interpretation of music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Since 1976 he has been a lute teacher and head of the early music department at the Eastman School of Music in New York . He lives in Rochester (New York State) with his wife, son and daughter.
He has taken part in over a hundred recordings, some of which have been nominated for Gramophone's Record of the Year award.
He has been broadcast on radio and television on national channels in many countries (ABC, BBC, Radio France, RAI, CBS television and many others ...).
He collaborates among others with musicians Jordi Savall, Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Christopher Hogwood, Andrew Parrott, Nicholas McGegan and the ensembles Tafelmusik, The Parley of Instruments and The Harp Consort. He is also part of the Tragicomedia set having recorded and performed in concert operas, cantatas and oratorios from the 16th century. Since 2007, as conductor of the Boston Early Festival Orchestra & Chorus, he has made several recordings of works from the Baroque period in collaboration with Stephen Stubbs.