David Angus with the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders

Biography

David Angus has just been appointed Music Director of Glimmerglass Opera, in New York State, where he will conduct 2 new productions each year and oversee all musical matters.  He is also Honorary Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, following several years as its Principal Conductor when he played a major part in establishing it as Belgium’s most exciting and successful new orchestra. During the current season he makes his debut with the Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City, whilst other orchestral activities include several concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders.

Born in England, David Angus spent his early years 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 finished his training with a Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he won several prizes for his opera conducting.

His professional career began as a repetiteur with Opera North, before becoming Chorus Master and Staff Conductor for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. At Glyndebourne he conducted many operas, both in the Festival and on tour.  David Angus’ operatic career then took him to Italy, where he conducted several productions and concerts in Turin, Bologna and Modena. He has worked with Scottish Opera, Opera North and English Touring Opera, and conducted many productions elsewhere in the UK and Ireland, including several British premieres for the Brighton Festival. He has also worked for the Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Paris, Danish National Opera, Malmö Opera and Icelandic Opera.

On the UK concert platform David Angus regularly conducts the London Philharmonic and the London Mozart Players, both in concert and in the recording studio. He has appeared with most of the major orchestras in the country, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, the BBC's Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, the Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Northern Sinfonia. 

David Angus broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3 and abroad, in Austria, Ireland, Holland, Denmark, Italy, and particularly on Klara, the Belgian Classical Music channel. He conducts orchestras and choirs all over Europe, particularly in Scandinavia where he is a regular guest with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and several Danish orchestras.

An affinity with the music of Benjamin Britten started when he sang for Britten as a boy chorister at Aldeburgh, and since then he has conducted for the Aldeburgh Festival and for several years was the Vocal Consultant to the Britten-Pears School.  David Angus has a natural empathy with young musicians and he frequently conducts at the Guildhall School and Trinity College.  He also finds working with youth orchestras particularly rewarding.

Next season will see his debut with the San Antonio Orchestra in Texas, as well as his regular commitments with Glimmerglass Opera, the London Philharmonic and his former orchestra in Belgium.

November 2008