Benjamin Bayl • Conductor • Biography

Benjamin Bayl - Biography

Benjamin Bayl’s skill and flair for working with period ensembles, modern orchestras and opera houses has gained the support from many notable figures such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Ivor Bolton, Iván Fischer, Harry Bicket, Paul McCreesh and Lars Ulrik Mortensen to name a few.

Engagements this season have included a critically acclaimed Ariodante for English Touring Opera, which followed debuts with Opera Australia (a new production of Orlando) and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Last year he conducted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Sydney’s World Youth Day, in the presence of the Pope. Following the success of his debut conducting Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Symfoniorkestern Norrlandsoperan last December, he was immediately re-invited to conduct Handel’s Messiah in the 2010/11 season. He recently stepped in for an indisposed Rumon Gamba with Aalborg Symfoniorkester in Denmark, with great success.

Benjamin’s tenure as Assistant Conductor to the Budapest Festival Orchestra came to a close last season, and he recently returned to assist Iván Fischer on Don Giovanni. He was also Assistant Artistic Director to the Gabrieli Consort & Players for four seasons, making debuts with them in London and Rome. Having conducted Handel’s Brockes Passion at the Wratislavia Festival in Poland, Benjamin will return there next season. Future conducting engagements include performances with The English Concert at the Lufthansa Baroque Festival in Spring 2011, Arne’s Judgement of Paris with Bampton Classical Opera, debuts with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Opéra National de Lorraine and Oviedo Symphony Orchestra, as well as L’incoronazione di Poppea in 2011/12 for the Nordic Early Opera Network.

Contemporary music also features in Benjamin’s repertoire. He recently made his first commercial disc as a conductor, recording works of Hindemith with the Britten Sinfonia for Signum Classics, which was awarded 5 stars in the BBC Music Magazine. He also conducted the European premiere of Sir John Tavener’s Lament for Jerusalem with the Orchestra of the City and Rodolfus Choir, and has conducted works by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Elliott Carter, Judith Weir and Jonathan Dove.

He recently made his Spanish debut directing Hita’s Briseida at the Santiago Festival with La Grande Chapelle; and has also conducted Orchestra Victoria, The King’s Consort, Iford Opera, Bampton Classical Opera, Opera East, Guildford Philharmonic, and many concerts with Orchestra of the City as Music Director.

Benjamin has worked widely in the world of opera and oratorio as assistant conductor and has built up relationships with many important opera houses and conductors — most notably at Opéra National du Rhin, Strasbourg (Jephtha with Ivor Bolton), Copenhagen (Partenope and Jephtha with Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen), Sydney (Giulio Cesare with Richard Hickox), Teatro Real Madrid (Tamerlano with Paul McCreesh), Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (Ariodante and L’incoronazione di Poppea with Harry Bicket), Opéra Comique (Carmen with Sir John Eliot Gardiner), Palau Les Arts, Valencia (1984 with Lorin Maazel) and several productions with Harry Christophers. He was recently assistant conductor for a new feature film based on Don Giovanni with the acclaimed Danish director, Kasper Holten. Next season he will assist both Daniel Harding — on Verdi’s Otello with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra — and Emmanuelle Haïm, on Giulio Cesare at the Opéra National de Paris.

He also assisted McCreesh at Orquestra Nacional de España, Gran Canaria Philharmonic and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and was Chorus Master at Opera Holland Park for two seasons. He has been on the music staff for numerous productions at both Covent Garden and ENO, and was assistant conductor for British Youth Opera, making his conducting debut in the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

He founded and conducts the dynamic period instrument ensemble, The Saraband Consort. They recently made their Wigmore Hall debut and appeared in various festivals including the ‘Martes Musicales’ Vitoria and ‘Aste Nagusia’ Bilbao Festivals, where they will soon return. Benjamin has worked extensively with Europe’s foremost early music groups as a keyboardist, including The Gabrieli Consort & Players, The Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, HMSC, The King’s Consort, The Sixteen, Staatskapelle Halle, Ex Cathedra and Concerto Copenhagen, as well as Polyphony, Northern Sinfonia, RPO, LSO & CBSO.

Born in Sydney in 1978, Benjamin Bayl studied at King’s College Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar. He is an alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the National Opera Studio, Schola Cantorum Basel and the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied conducting with Colin Metters, Sir Colin Davis and George Hurst on the Sir Charles Mackerras Scholarship.

Download biography: