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The English conductor, Justin Doyle, began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Cathedral, and a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. He won second prize in the prestigious Cadaqués Orchestra Conducting Competition in 2006 in Barcelona and was awarded the first Conductor Fellowship with the
BBC Singers, with whom he continues to work.
A regular guest conductor with Opera North, other recent engagements have included concerts with the Orchestra of Opera North,
Royal Northern Sinfonia, Hallé Orchestra,
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Finnish Baroque Orchestra, King’s Camerata, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, New London Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Sinfonia of Leeds, and Jersey Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted many choirs and this season (2020-2021) works for the first time with the
Swedish Radio Choir.
Justin Doyle has been Artistic Director of the Ryedale Festival and Swaledale Festival, and Principal Conductor / Musical Director of ensembles such as the University of Manchester Chorus, Haffner Orchestra, Essex Symphony Orchestra and Manchester Chamber Choir. His broad musical tastes have also led him to work with period instrument ensembles, collaborate with musicians from other cultures, arrange folk music from all over the world and conduct live orchestral film scores. His previous involvement in musical education includes the directorships of the Young Sinfonia (the youth orchestra of the
Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead) and Opera North Children’s Chorus; in 2018 he works with the young singers of Genesis Sixteen.
Justin Doyle is in demand as a conductor of opera, in particular the works of W.A. Mozart (‘an evening of almost unadulterated Mozartian bliss’ Così fan tutte / Opera magazine), Haydn (‘hard to imagine this fizzing piece ever being better done’ L’infedeltà delusa / The Independent) and
Benjamin Britten (‘Justin Doyle and the Opera North Orchestra work wonders to dispatch
Britten’s mischievous and miraculous chamber score with pungency and precision’ Albert Herring / The Times). He conducted Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi at Buxton in 2016 (‘The Northern Chamber Orchestra under Justin Doyle gave the best performance I’ve heard from them at Buxton; Doyle brought out the best in them’ / Bachtrack), returning in 2017 to conduct
B. Britten’s Albert Herring (‘…a super performance under the baton of Justin Doyle’ / Mark Ronan Theatre Reviews). He conducted Offenbach’s ‘Fantasio’ at Garsington Opera in the summer of 2019 (‘… Justin Doyle’s excellent conducting also seems as if it is getting to the very heart of the piece’ Music OMH).
Justin Doyle's work as Chief Conductor of the RIAS-Kammerchor began with the 2017-2018 season with critically acclaimed performances of the Vespers of 1610 and Missa In illo tempore by Claudio Monteverdi at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. As well as undertaking a major tour of Japan, he directs
RIAS-Kammerchor this season (2020-2021) in concerts both in Berlin and in some of Europe’s biggest venues with diverse repertoire ranging from
Heinrich Schütz to George Frideric Handel,
J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms and
Arvo Pärt. Alongside a deep love of Renaissance polyphony, he is also highly interested in contemporary music. He and the
RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin have initiated a series of major commissioned works, which the ensemble presents as world premieres each season. In March 2022 he will conduct Jüri Reinvere’s Die Vertreibung des Ismael in the Philharmonie Berlin. Furthermore, he and the
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin collaborate on works by
G.F. Handel on a regular basis.
The first three recordings of Justin Doyle with RIAS-Kammerchor for Harmonia Mundi, Hymn to Cecilia by
B. Britten, Missa Cellensis by Joseph Haydn, and Messiah by
G.F. Handel, were celebrated by the audience and the critics. They have also recorded as well as released ‘Heritage – Treasures of Jewish – German Composers’ with guest artist Azi Schwartz, the Cantor of Park Avenue, New York City.
Forthcoming engagements lead Doyle to work with the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks,
MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen,
Kammerakademie Potsdam, Swedish Radio Choir and Coro Sinfônico do Estado de São Paulo.
Justin Doyle has recently been appointed Gastprofessor in Choral Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler (Berlin). Justin is also an ‘International Visitor’ at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. |
