Nicholas Cleobury

Conductor

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  Nicholas Cleobury is Artistic Director of Mid Wales Opera, Principal Conductor of the John Armitage Memorial (JAM), Principal Conductor and Founder Director of Sounds New and Principal Conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir. He is Founder Laureate of the Britten Sinfonia.

  Cleobury has a wealth of operatic experience, having worked with companies including English National Opera, Glyndebourne and Opera North, Canadian Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, the Royal Opera Stockholm, Hamburg Opera and Zurich Opera (where he has conducted many productions). He has also conducted numerous ballets, including works by Berg, von Bose (World Premiere), Debussy, Glass, Ligeti, Prokofiev and Stravinsky.

  He has worked with some of the most prestigious festivals in the world, including Aldeburgh Festival, BBC Proms, English Bach Festival, St Magnus Festival Orkney and the Two Moors Festival.

  Noted in particular as an orchestral and choral conductor, Cleobury has conducted all the major orchestras in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, Singapore, South Africa and beyond, and choirs including the Swedish and Danish Radio Choirs, the Berkshire Choral Festival (UK and USA) and numerous major choirs in the UK, including the Royal and Huddersfield Choral Societies and the BBC Singers.

  Nicholas Cleobury has a particular gift and flair for working with young people and students, as conductor, lecturer and teacher, working at most of the UK music colleges, with the Southbank Sinfonia and British Youth Opera.

  A regular broadcaster with the BBC, Classic fM and on European radio, his discography includes highly regarded recordings of Mozart Concertos with the Britten Sinfonia and RPO, an award-winning CD of the music of Richard Strauss for EMI, Bridge, Headington, Maw and English Music with the Britten Sinfonia, and many others including the Chopin Piano Concertos.

  Highlights this season and beyond include tours with Mid Wales Opera, return visits to orchestras including the RPO, Sonderjylland and Odense, and engagements further afield in Hong Kong and the USA (with both Opera Omaha and the Omaha Symphony Orchestra).

  Nicholas Cleobury is represented by Rayfield Allied Worldwide.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

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  • Oxford Bach Choir / London Mozart Players, Sheldonian Theatre
    March 2012

    Conductor Nicholas Cleobury was firmly in control, expressive as always in the way he communicated with the choir, drawing from them some lush sounds and well-observed dynamics.

    The Oxford Times

  • Oxford Bach Choir, Sheldonian Theatre
    December 2011

    Conductor Nicholas Cleobury coaxed some sensational sounds from the choir

    The Oxford Times

  • Madam Butterfly, Mid Wales Opera
    September 2011

    It is thanks to artistic director and conductor Nicholas Cleobury driving the score forward with a real feel for its detail that Puccini's characterisations begin to shine through.

    Rian Evans, The Guardian

    MWO’s musical director, Nicholas Cleobury, led a tight, beautifully paced account of the pared-down score.

    Hugo Shirley, The Telegraph

    it was the details of musical characterization from the singers, together with Nicholas Cleobury’s very sure handling of the reduced score, that made this performance affecting. Cleobury struck an excellent balance between pushing the piece forward and relishing the moments of tenderness without any trace of sentimentality.

    Rian Evans, Opera

    Conductor Nicholas Cleobury created a sensitive balance.

    Birmingham Post

    Nicholas Cleobury conducts briskly, not lingering over those moments where Puccini places a bit too much faith in plain sentiment

    TheArtsDesk

  • Falstaff,  Mid Wales Opera
    (September 2010)

    MWO’s new music director, Nicholas Cleobury, is off to a great start: he conducts a treacherous score with distinction. The whole thing’s a delight.

    Neil Fisher The Times

    …with Nicholas Cleobury conducting a sprightly account of the sublimely mercurial score, this is altogether a treat.

    Rupert Christiansen The Daily Telegraph

    In his debut as MWO's artistic director, Nicholas Cleobury ensures a lively pace throughout

    Rian Evans, The Guardian

    Here we are allowed to concentrate on what is actually a wonderful ensemble opera, with its tiny cast so busy and willing, its reduced orchestra sparkling and zestful under Nicholas Cleobury’s well-paced conducting

    Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post

    Nicholas Cleobury’s precise, pacy conducting kept things moving.

    The Public Reviews

  • A French Affair, Eastern Cape Philharmonia, South Africa
    (July 2010)

    Conductor Nicholas Cleobury certainly knows what he wants and thanks to his clear and precise technique is well able to convey his intentions to his musicians.

    Professor Rupert Mayr, Rhodes University

    During this exploration of music with a “French Connection”, whether through composer of style, the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra’s musical potential was unleashed most impressively under the baton of Nicholas Cleobury.(…) Cleobury led the reduced ‘Rococo’ orchestra most skillfully through a tidy performance that honoured the elegant, emotionally restrained underpinnings of the work.

    Lestie Hughes, Weekend Post

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    Photographer credit: Benjamin Harte

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    Photographer credit: Benjamin Harte

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