Ivor Bolton Ivor Bolton (born 17 May 1958) is an English

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

and

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

Early life and education

Bolton was born in

Blackrod Blackrod is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, northeast of Wigan and west of Bolton. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, it had a population of 5,001. Historically part of Lancashire ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tamesid ...

, England. He studied at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

(1976–80), and was conducting scholar at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

(1980–81).Adam, Nicky (ed). Ivor Bolton. In: ''Who's Who in British Opera.'' Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1993. He later trained as a

répétiteur A (from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. A feminine form, , also appears but is comparatively rare. Opera In opera, a is the person ...

at the National Opera Studio and was appointed conductor of

Schola Cantorum of Oxford Schola Cantorum of Oxford is the longest running chamber choir of University of Oxford, and one of the longest established and most widely known chamber choirs in the United Kingdom. The conductor is Steven Grahl. The choir was founded in 196 ...

Career

Bolton was Assistant Chorus Master and staff conductor from 1982–84 for

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

. He made his operatic conducting debut in 1986 with

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

's ''

The Rake's Progress ''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings '' A Rake's Pro ...

'' for

Opera 80 English Touring Opera (ETO) is an opera company in the United Kingdom founded in 1979 under the name Opera 80 by the then-existing Arts Council of Great Britain. In 1992 the company changed to its present name. Today it is sponsored in part by Ar ...

. He later became music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera (now Glyndebourne on Tour) from 1992–97. He was principal conductor of the

Scottish Chamber Orchestra The Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) is an Edinburgh-based UK chamber orchestra. One of Scotland's five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and ...

from 1994–96. He has also held leadership positions whilst he was musical director of

St James's Church, Piccadilly St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, United Kingdom. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren. Th ...

in London from 1982 to 1990 with the St James's Baroque Players (with whom he recorded J. S. Bach's harpsichord concertos BWV 1052–1058 in 1987, and Charpentier's ''

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chu ...

'' H.146 and Missa ''Assumpta est Maria'' H.11 in 1996) and the

Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music The London Festival of Baroque Music (formerly the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music) is an annual music festival held in London. History The London Festival of Baroque Music was founded as the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music in 1984 by ...

. Other work with period ensembles has included collaboration with the ''Dresdner Festspielorchester'' (Dresden Festival Orchestra), which began in 2012. From 2004 to 2016, Bolton was Chief Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, with which he appeared at

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

in 2006. He took the title of ''Ehrendirigent'' (Honorary Conductor) with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg as of the 2016–17 season. In February 2014, the

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...

in Madrid named Bolton its next music director, effective from the 2015–16 season, with an initial contract of five years. Bolton is scheduled to conclude his tenure as music director of the Teatro Real at the close of the 2024–25 season. In June 2015, the

Sinfonieorchester Basel The Sinfonieorchester Basel (Symphony Orchestra Basel; Swiss abbreviation SOB) is a symphony orchestra based in Basel, Switzerland. Its principal concert venue is the ''Musiksaal'' of the Stadtcasino. In addition, the orchestra accompanies ballet ...

announced the appointment of Bolton as its next chief conductor, as of the 2016–17 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. In March 2018, the orchestra announced the extension of Bolton's contract through the 2024–25 season. With the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Bolton has made commercial recordings of music by

W. A. Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...

Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border ...

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

, and Anton Bruckner. In addition, he has conducted commercial recordings of Handel's '' Theodora'' from the Salzburg Festival, Mayr's '' Medea in Corinto'' from Munich, Janáček's ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...

'' from the Teatro Real Madrid, Cavalli's ''

Ercole amante ''Ercole amante'' (''Hercules in Love'', French: ''Hercule amoureux'') is an opera in a prologue and five acts by Francesco Cavalli. Its Italian libretto is by Francesco Buti, based on Sophocles' '' The Trachiniae'' and on the ninth book of O ...

'' from the Netherlands Opera, and Mozart's ''

Zaide ''Zaide'' (originally, ''Das Serail'') is an unfinished German-language opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company for the purpose of performing ...

'' and ''

La finta giardiniera ' ("The Pretend Garden-Girl"), K. 196, is an Italian-language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in Munich in January 1775 when he was 18 years old and it received its first performance on 13 January at the in Munich. There is deb ...

'' from Salzburg.

Personal life

Bolton is married to the musicologist, critic, and broadcaster Tess Knighton, whom he met at Cambridge. The couple have a son, and reside in Barcelona.

References

External links

Official website of Ivor Bolton

Ingpen & Williams' agency page on Ivor Bolton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Ivor 1958 births Living people English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge English harpsichordists 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians Oehms Classics artists People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn