Biography
Paul Daniel was Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia from 2012 – 2022 and Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine from 2013 – 2021. He held the same post at the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth from 2009 – 2013. He has appeared as a guest conductor with major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world as well as holding several permanent positions. From 1997 to 2005 he was Music Director of English National Opera; from 1990 to 1997 he was Music Director of Opera North and Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia; and from 1987 to 1990 he was Music Director of Opera Factory. Operatic guest engagements have included the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, the Semperoper Dresden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Paul Daniel’s orchestral engagements have included performances with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, the OAE (with whom he recorded Elijah for Decca), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Orchestre de Paris, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Orchestre National Bordeaux Acquitaine, Tampere Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
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, Lulu for La Monnaie in Brussels, a double bill of L’Enfant et les sortilèges, and Der Zwerg for Opéra National de Paris, Les Troyens for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hänsel und Gretel in Zürich, A Village Romeo and Juliet for Oper Frankfurt, Werther For the New National Theatre Tokyo, the world premiere of Ruders’ The Thirteenth Child in Santa Fe, and Elektra, Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre in Bordeaux. Orchestral engagements, apart from his work in Bordeaux, include concerts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Hamburg Symphony, Munich Rundfunkorchester, Australian National Academy of Music, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and at the Bregenz Festival. In 2022/23 he returned to Bordeaux for Madama Butterfly, conducted a new production of Die Zauberflöte for Welsh National Opera and Offenbach’s La Princesse de Trébizonde with the London Philharmonic for Opera Rara, which has just been released on CD.
His many recordings include the hugely successful CD of Elgar’s Third Symphony on Naxos, and an expanding discography with Orchestra National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, including discs of Wagner, Mahler and Tchaikovsky. His performance of Lulu for La Monnaie, with Barbara Hannigan in the title role, has been released as an award-wining DVD.
In 1998 Paul Daniel received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera and was awarded the CBE in the 2000 New Year’s Honours list.
