Opera Scotland

Scottish Opera appoint Stuart Stratford as Musical Director

Posted 21 Apr 2015

British conductor Stuart Stratford has been appointed by Scottish Opera as the Company's Music Director after an extensive international search. Stratford impressed audiences and critics during his recent engagement with Scottish Opera, conducting Janácek's Jenufa (2015) to acclaim.

Stuart trained in clarinet and read music at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He went on to study conducting with David Parry and later in Russia, at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatoire for three years with Ilya Aleksandrovich Musin. He was the Junior Fellow in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 1999 and 2000. Building on his breadth of professional experience conducting in the UK and internationally, and with opera at the core of his activities, Stuart now brings his talent and vision to Scotland's national opera company in his first role as Music Director of a major opera company.

Stratford will officially join the Company on 1 June 2015, and his first performances as Music Director will be announced with the launch of Scottish Opera's 2015/16 Season in May. In joining Scottish Opera he becomes only the sixth Music Director in the Company's 53 year history.

General Director of Scottish Opera, Alex Reedijk said:

'I have been aware of Stuart's work for a number of years, always admiring the quality of his performances. As I've got to know him better, he's proven to be a wonderful musician and a very generous artist who really understands opera and carefully crafts every stage of the preparations for an opera performance, making singers, players and the creative team feel safe as he guides, challenges and shapes the artistic and musical outcomes.'

Music Director Stuart Stratford said:

'I am honoured and proud to have been appointed Music Director at Scottish Opera. My time here on Jenufa has shown me what a vibrant company Scottish Opera is. I look forward to working with the fantastic team to provide artistic and musical leadership in the coming years.'

Aged 40, Stuart was born in Preston and is half-Scottish (Stuart's mother is from Clydebank). Stuart's wife is a pianist and they have an eight year old son. 

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