sound:

Michael Bawtree

Michael Bawtree is Chorus Director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, Director of the Glasgow Chamber Choir and assistant music director of the Lyrique-en-Mer opera festival in Brittany. A keen advocate of contemporary music in Scotland, he has conducted the premieres of operatic, symphonic and choral works by Scottish-based composers Gareth Williams, Julian Wagstaff and Alasdair Spratt. He has also given the first Scottish performances of recent works by Magnus Lindberg, Will Todd and Richard Busch. Last autumn he conducted the world premiere of Judith Bingham's Shadow Aspect as part of a 150th Anniversary concert with ERCU at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh. Michael Bawtree has conducted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, Northern Ballet and many performances of Scottish Ballet's productions of The Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker across the UK. He has directed performances of Albert Herring and La Clemenza di Tito for Edinburgh Studio Opera and worked in France for productions of Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Cosi fan tutte, Rigoletto and Don Pasquale.

Michael Bawtree studied music and the organ at Christ's College, Cambridge University and conducting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. For five years Michael was Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk. He broadcast frequently on BBC Radio and television and made three CD recordings. As an accompanist and continuo player, Michael has worked with many conductors and performed with the City of London Sinfonia, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. With the RSNO he has appeared at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the BBC Proms and at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow for performances of Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony. Solo organ recital engagements have taken him to over twenty British cathedrals, as well as Bermuda, California, Sweden and Denmark. In 2006 Michael travelled to the USA for five recitals, including a performance at Washington National Cathedral. Future recital engagements include invitations to perform at Notre Dame de Paris and the Chapelle Royale at Versailles. He is a Lecturer at the RSAMD and Director of Music at St Margaret's Episcopal Church in Glasgow.

• website link for Michael Bawtree: www.michaelbawtree.co.uk
• other artists and composers involved in sound 2010
• sound events in 2010