Principal Conductor

Paul Daniel

Paul Daniel became Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth in 2009.

He has appeared as a guest conductor with major orchestras throughout the world, including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with whom he has recorded Elijah for Decca and toured to New York, BBC Symphony Orchestra (including at the internationally televised Last Night of the Proms in 2005), Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Royal Flanders Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra,  the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain,  Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestre National de Lyon, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano, the Sydney Symphony, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Essen Philharmonic, the Gürzenich Orchester Köln and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. 

Paul Daniel was Music Director of English National Opera from 1997 to 2005.  His repertoire at ENO included The Flying Dutchman, Falstaff, From the House of the Dead, The Tales of Hoffmann, Manon, Otello, Boris Godounov, La traviata, The Dialogue of the Carmelites, Der Rosenkavalier, Pelleas and Melisande, the world premiere of The Silver Tassie by Mark Anthony Turnage, Nixon in China, Peter Grimes (at the Aldeburgh Festival), Il Trovatore, War & Peace, Lulu, The Trojans, concert performances of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, staged performances of the Verdi Requiem and Wagner’s complete Ring. Before his appointment, he had already worked extensively with the company where productions included the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus, Figaro's Wedding, Akhnaten by Philip Glass, Tosca, Carmen, Rigoletto, and performances of King Priam, as part of the Tippett’s 90th birthday celebrations.  In 2008 he returned to the company for a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Paul Daniel was Music Director of Opera Factory from 1987 – 1990, and of Opera North from 1990-1997, where he attracted critical acclaim for his performances of Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Tippett's King Priam, Don Giovanni, Schreker's Der Ferne Klang, Boris Godunov (with which Opera North made its Prom debut in 1992), Don Carlos, Wozzeck, Gloriana, Il trovatore, Pelleas and Melisande, the world premieres of Michael Berkeley's Baa Baa Black Sheep and Benedict Mason's Playing Away, which was premiered at the Munich Biennale, Jenufa, Luisa Miller, Medea, Falstaff and Tannhäuser.

During his tenure as Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia, the orchestra of Opera North, he conducted numerous concerts throughout the UK and also took the orchestra to many festivals including the Edinburgh Festival and the Strasbourg “Musica” Festival. He made many recordings with the English Northern Philharmonia for EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos and Naxos. His recording of the Elgar/Payne Symphony No 3 with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was one of the best selling classical CDs of 2000. Dialogues des Carmelites,  Falstaff and Wozzeck have been released in recent seasons by Chandos, and other recent releases include Belshazzar’s Feast for Naxos.

Other operatic engagements have included his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 conducting Die Zauberflöte, Mitridate at the Royal Opera House, Beatrice and Benedict and Khovanshchina, Entführung, Macbeth and Death in Venice at La Monnaie in Brussels, Erwartung and Duke Bluebeard's Castle for Geneva Opera, The Marriage of Figaro, and the world premiere of Hans-Jurgen von Bose's Slaughterhouse 5,  new productions of Katya Kabanova and Pelléas et Mélisande, and Hänsel und Gretel and Cosi fan tutte all at the Bayerische Staatsoper,  Henze’s L’Upupa and The Makropoulos Case for the Teatro Real in Madrid, a Zemlinsky double-bill and a new production of Billy Budd for the Frankurt Opera, La Clemenza di Tito for the 2005 Festival of Aix-en-Provence, King Roger for the Teatro Real in Madrid and Death in Venice for the Aldeburgh and Bregenz Festivals.

Recent and future operatic plans include, Lucrezia Borgia and The Marriage of Figaro for English National Opera, Gloriana for Covent Garden,  a new commission by Judith Weir for the Bregenz Festival and Covent Garden, a double bill of L’Enfant et les Sortilleges and Der Zwerg for Opera National de Paris, Les Troyens for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and The Turn of the Screw for Zurich Opera. Future orchestral engagements, apart from his concerts with West Australian Symphony Orchestra, include concerts with Orchestre National Bordeaux Acquitaine, Hamburg Philharmonic, Tapiola Symphony and the Gurzenich Orchestra Cologne.

In February 1998 Paul Daniel received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera, and in 1999 he received a Gramophone award for his English music series on the Naxos label. He was awarded the CBE in the 2000 New Year’s Honours list.
 

Paul Daniel's 2012 WASO Performances

Beethoven's Fifth (Morning Symphony)
12 April
Perth Concert Hall

Beethoven's Fifth
13 & 14 April
Perth Concert

Stravinsky & Sibelius
20 & 21 April
Perth Concert Hall

Magic Circle Mime
29 April
Perth Concert Hall

Tasmin Little Plays Bruch
10 & 11 August
Perth Concert Hall

Horizons
15 August
The Astor Theatre

Boundaries
18 August
The Astor Theatre

Mozart & Mahler
24 & 25 August
Perth Concert Hall

Mozart & Strauss
23 & 24 November
Perth Concert Hall

Wagner's The Ring: An Orchestral Adventure (Morning Symphony)
29 November
Perth Concert Hall

Rachmaninov & The Ring
30 November & 1 December
Perth Concert Hall

Paul Daniel appears courtesy of Wesfarmers Arts.