David Angus - Conductor
“The chosen version of I Capuleti e i Montecchi is by Angus, a British
conductor, and his understanding of bel canto style and tempi is absolute.
His reading of Bellini is in consummate good taste, highlighting the emotional
and dramatic arc of the score while never allowing his singers to resort
to vulgar, showy singing for its own sake.”
Toronto Globe & Mail, 12th August ‘08
David Angus is the recently appointed Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera in the USA, he is Honorary Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and he regularly conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A natural empathy with young people has seen him as Associate Conductor for London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama for both concert and opera and for many years he was Vocal Consultant to the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh.
David Angus made his debut with the Utah Symphony Orchestra in October ’08 (“Without a soloist the spotlight at this weekend's Utah Symphony concert was clearly on guest conductor David Angus, who made a stunning debut in a program of Britten, Mahler and Bruckner.” Desert News, 4thNovember ‘08) with future debuts with the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra and Boston Lyric Opera in season ‘09/10. His debuts with Glimmerglass Opera ("David Angus’s conducting .... produced the most elegant and lively music-making of the weekend." New York Times, 25th July, ‘06) and Danish National Opera (“the Sjaelland Symphony Orchestra was in top form and sparklingly Italian under the leadership of the British conductor David Angus … Lolland-Falsters Folketidende, 27th February ‘06”) brought multiple re-invitations alongside his orchestral activity which, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Flanders Symphony Orchestra, includes the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Collegium Brugense and the BBC in Northern Ireland with the Ulster Orchestra. On the UK concert platform David Angus has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, the BBC’s Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, the Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, English Symphony Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia, also appearing several times with the London Mozart Players for concerts and in the recording studio. He has worked on a number of occasions with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and made his debut at the Edinburgh Festival with them. He appears regularly with other orchestras in many parts of Europe and Canada.
David Angus was brought up in Belfast. He was a boy chorister at King's College, Cambridge, under Sir David Willcocks and he read music at Surrey University where he specialised as a pianist. He was awarded a Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he won three Ricordi prizes for his opera conducting. His professional opera house career began as a Répétiteur for Opera North before becoming Chorus Master and staff conductor for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. At Glyndebourne he conducted performances of "Die Zauberflöte", "Eugene Onegin" and Sir Michael Tippett's "New Year" and, for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, "Così fan tutte" and "Kát'a Kabanová". An affinity with the music of Benjamin Britten began when he sang for him as a boy chorister at Aldeburgh. He has had a continuing association with Aldeburgh since then, conducting, for example, “Albert Herring” for the Aldeburgh Festival at the Jubilee Hall.
David Angus made his Italian debut conducting Britten's "A Midsummer
Night's Dream" in Turin, returning to conduct several concerts and
productions of "Hänsel und Gretel", "Boris Godunov"
and "The Turn of the Screw" which he has also conducted in Bologna
and Modena. He has also appeared in Turin several times in partnership with
the Ballet Béjart of Lausanne. In Britain, apart from his work at
Glyndebourne and Aldeburgh, he has worked with Scottish Opera and Opera
North. For the Brighton Festival he has conducted Britten’s “Turn
of the Screw”, the British premieres of Tchaikovsky's "The Enchantress",
Von Einem's "Danton’s Tod" and Shostakovich’ orchestration
of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" whilst other productions in the
UK have included “Rape of Lucretia”, "Albert Herring",
"Hänsel und Gretel", "Rigoletto", "Faust",
Henze/Paisiello "Don Chisciotte", "La Bohème",
"Il Barbière di Siviglia", "The Merry Widow",
"Madama Butterfly" plus the Maderna/Monteverdi "Orfeo"
and also recorded Britten's "Curlew River" for Koch Schwann. Elsewhere
he has worked for the Opéra National de Paris, Malmö Opera and
Icelandic Opera. He has conducted Britten’s “Albert Herring”
for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.
February 2009