Joseph McHardy was born in Scotland to Congolese and English parents. At the University of Edinburgh, he fell in love with the harpsichords in the university’s Russell Collection, one of the most extensive collections of historic keyboard instruments in Europe. He then studied harpsichord at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and spent a decade as a harpsichordist and conductor, working at opera houses from Berlin to Madrid, and performing and recording with ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic, Le Concert d’Astrée and The Gabrieli Consort and Players.

From 2017 to 2023, he was Director of Music of HM Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, leading the choir which counts Tallis, Byrd and Purcell amongst its former members. During his tenure, he prepared the choir for many historic events, including the State Funeral of Elizabeth II, and the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla. Since 2023, he has returned to Christ Church, Chelsea, where he is responsible for the 1779 England and Russell organ, rebuilt by Flentrop in 2010.

He has conducted the BBC Singers in two broadcasts, giving the premiere of Ben Ponniah’s Maida Vale Service in 2021, and he appears regularly on BBC Radio 3 as a reviewer and presenter, including for a documentary about US civil rights leader Bayard Rustin’s use of Early Music in activism.

Passionate about Black History, he has recently completed a recording project directing Chineke! Voices in the music of Vicente Lusitano, the first composer racialised as Black to bring their music to print in Europe, and his transcription, with Arne Spohr, of Lusitano’s complete Latin motets is due for publication later this year by A-R Editions. He has contributed to the revision of Lusitano’s entry in Grove Music Online, and has written for The Guardian, as well as giving interviews to BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Lyric FM, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio, and the Trilloquy podcast.

Since 2023, he has combined his freelance career with that of Director of Music at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London, a post he holds in succession to Adine O’Neill, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Nicola LeFanu.