Antony Walker | |
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Born | Sydney, Australia |
Origin | Australia |
Genres | Classical |
Occupation(s) | Conductor, music director, artistic director |
Antony Walker is an Australian conductor who currently resides in Washington, D.C. He has held the positions of musical director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Chorus Master and staff conductor of Welsh National Opera, and is currently artistic director and Conductor of Washington Concert Opera and music director of Pittsburgh Opera. He co-founded Pinchgut Opera, the vocal ensemble Cantillation and the orchestras Sinfonia Australis and Orchestra of the Antipodes. [1] [2] [3] Educated at Sydney Grammar School, and an honours graduate of the University of Sydney, Walker trained as a singer (tenor), pianist, cellist, and composer.
At the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Walker has led performances of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, and Les Pêcheurs de Perles, as well as the National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert in 2016.
For English National Opera he has conducted Lucia di Lammermoor and The Tales of Hoffmann.
Walker has appeared as guest conductor with Opera Australia, West Australian Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Minnesota Opera, Arizona Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, North Carolina Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and Opera di Firenze. In 2008 he conducted the US premiere of William Walton's opera Troilus and Cressida at the Opera Theater of St Louis, and in the 2018–19 season for Washington Concert Opera he conducted the US premiere of Gounod's Sapho (starring Kate Lindsay) and the first performance in the US since 1835 of Rossini's Zelmira (with Silva tro SantaFé, Lawrence Brownlee, and Vivica Genaux). In 2022 Walker conducted the world premiere of In a Grove, by Christopher Cerrone, for Pittsburgh Opera.
He has conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Adelaide, Tasmanian, and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre Colonne in Paris, Thessaloniki State Symphony, and made his debut with the Mozarteum Orchester in Salzburg in Jan 2019 with a program of Berlioz and Tchaikovsky. He is noted as a fine interpreter of "bel canto", Rossini, French opera, Verdi, Puccini, the Viennese classical composers, Bach, and Handel, as well as French and English composers of the 20th century.
Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the English National Opera and Welsh National Opera and was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also specialized in Czech music as a whole, producing many recordings for the Czech label Supraphon.
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Pinchgut Opera is a chamber opera company in Sydney, Australia, presenting opera from the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. Founded in 2002, Pinchgut stages two operas each year in Sydney's City Recital Hall. It also performs concerts in both Sydney and Melbourne.
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David et Jonathas, H. 490, is an opera in five acts and a prologue by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, first performed at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, Paris, on 28 February 1688. The libretto, by Father François Bretonneau, is based on the Old Testament story of the friendship between David and Jonathan.
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Cantillation is an Australian vocal ensemble founded in 2001 by Antony Walker and Alison Johnston. They were founded alongside orchestras Sinfonia Australis and Orchestra of the Antipodes.
Orchestra of the Antipodes is an Australian early music ensemble founded by Antony Walker and Alison Johnston. They play baroque music on early instruments. They were founded alongside vocal ensemble Cantillation and the Sinfonia Australis orchestra. They received a nomination for the 2012 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album with their album Bach: Brandenburg Concertos.
Sinfonia Australis is an Australian early music ensemble founded by Antony Walker and Alison Johnston. They play on period instruments. They were founded alongside vocal ensemble Cantillation and the Orchestra of the Antipodes. Along with Gerard Willems received a nomination for the 2004 ARIA Award for Best Classical Album with their album Beethoven Complete Piano Concertos.
George Ellis is an Australian conductor, composer and orchestrator. He presents concerts for international events with a broad range of styles from classical to pop/rock and jazz as well as presenting orchestral concerts for young audiences. He also lectures in conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and is a regular presenter of Sonic Journey for ABC Radio Sydney’s program with Simon Marnie.