Richard Lester is a British harpsichordist, fortepianist, and organist, as well as a musicologist specializing in 16th century studies. Raised in a musical family, Lester was enrolled in the Whitton Secondary School in Middlesex, then attended the London College of Music, graduating as a Fellow. He studied harpsichord with George Malcolm, piano with Bernard Roberts, and organ with David Lang. Lester made his public debut in 1973 at London's Wigmore Hall, and he gave recitals across the U.K. and internationally, appearing frequently on television and radio for the BBC. He has performed at the Royal Festival Hall, the Bath International Festival, and the Bruges Festival, and taught master classes at the Dartington International Summer School. From 1986 to 1992, Lester was the director of music at the Mall School in Twickenham, and he became the head of music at the Oakley Hall School in Cirencester. Since 1994, he has served as the master of choristers at Cirencester Parish Church, teaching classes at Bristol Cathedral. In 2000, Lester started to record the complete sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti for Nimbus Records, and he completed the project in 2006. He later recorded works by Haydn and Mozart on fortepiano, as well as harpsichord music by Soler, Seixas, and Frescobaldi.