Biography of David Curtis
…charismatic, inspiring…a conductor who deserves wider recognition… Birmingham Post
David
Curtis is Principal Conductor of Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and Artistic
Director and Principal Conductor of Orchestra
of the Swan, the driving force behind OOTS’ nationally acclaimed
Take Note! and Music of Our Time series, and Festival Director of Spring
Sounds, a new international music festival in Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon
featured recently on ITV’s South Bank Show with David conducting Tasmin
Little and Orchestra of the Swan in the world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s
‘Japanese Spring’.
His thought-provoking programming, infectious enthusiasm for contemporary music and fresh interpretations of standard repertoire have established him as a conductor of note, conducting in Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the USA.
In 2008 he made his debut conducting the Academy of St Martin’s-in-the-Field premièring a new work by American composer Andrew Waggoner, and he has appeared with the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor in Finland with the Mikkeli City Orchestra, the Roveniemi Chamber and Yvaskyla Symphony Orchestras in the concert hall and on Finnish Radio, and in May 2007 he conducted the Moravian Symphony Orchestra in the annual Olomouc Dvorak Festival and the Policka Martinu Festival.
David is a champion of new work and has commissioned and given world premieres of at least 50 works by British, Bulgarian, Chinese, Nordic, and American composers including Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, Oscar Colomina i Bosch, Joe Cutler, Tansy Davies, Joseph Duddell, Alexander Goehr, Sampo Haapamäki, Lars-Petter Hagen, John Joubert, Thuridur Jónsdottir, Peter Lieuwen, Paul Patterson, Joseph Phibbs, Julian Philips, Marie Samuelsson, Dobrinka Tabakova, Errollyn Wallen, Shu Wang and John Woolrich.
In 2005 he premiered a new chamber symphony by leading Finnish composer
Aki Yli-Salomaki and in autumn 2006 he conducted in the biennial Nordic
Music Days Festival with the Icelandic contemporary music ensemble Caput,
the first British composer to be invited to do so, giving the world premiere
of works by four leading Nordic composers for Icelandic Radio.
See also www.davidconductor.com