THE SCOTTISH Opera has appointed a new music director after a worldwide search.
Stuart Stratford, who is half Scottish himself, was chosen due to his talent, vision, and recent work with the company.
Stratford impressed audiences and critics during his recent engagement with Scottish Opera, conducting Janácek’s Jenufa to acclaim.
He trained in clarinet and read music at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He went on to study conducting with David Parry and later in Russia, at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatoire for three years with Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin.
He was also the Junior Fellow in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 1999 and 2000.
Building on his breadth of professional experience conducting in the UK and internationally, and with opera at the core of his activities, Stuart now brings his experience to Scotland’s national opera company in his first role as Music Director of a major opera company.
In the UK, Stuart has conducted for companies including English National Opera, Opera North, Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Opera Company and conducts regularly at Opera Holland Park.
He has conducted most of the UK’s major orchestras and has a particularly strong association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Sinfonia. Abroad he has recently conducted operas at Finnish National Opera and in St. Gallen, Switzerland and concerts in Portugal and Russia.
Stratford will officially join the Company on 1 June 2015, and his first performances as Music Director will be announced with the launch of Scottish Opera’s 2015/16 Season in May.
In joining Scottish Opera he becomes only the sixth Music Director in the Company’s 53 year history.
He said: “I am honoured and proud to have been appointed Music Director at Scottish Opera. My time here on Jen?fa has shown me what a vibrant company Scottish Opera is. I look forward to working with the fantastic team to provide artistic and musical leadership in the coming years.”
