IanPage

Ian Page is founder and artistic director of the Classical Opera Company. He received his early musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey Choir School, before studying English Literature at York University and piano and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. On leaving college he worked as repetiteur for British Youth Opera in 1990, which led directly to him being appointed to the music staff at Scottish Opera, and he subsequently worked for three years as assistant conductor at Glyndebourne.

Ian has also worked many other companies, including The Royal Opera, Opera North, English National Opera, Almeida Opera, Opera Factory and the Drottningholm Slottsteater, Stockholm, and he has assisted such conductors as Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Alexander Gibson, Nicholas McGegan and Mark Wigglesworth. Further conducting engagements include The Marriage of Figaro (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Così fan tutte (Holland Park and Opava, Czech Republic), Handel's Poro, re dell'Indie (St Bartholomew-the-Great), Kagel's Varieté (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), and three 'Studio Nights' which he devised for English National Opera.

For the Classical Opera Company he has conducted Mozart's Grabmusik, Apollo et Hyacinthus, La Finta Semplice, Bastien und Bastienne, Mitridate, Il Re Pastore, J.C.Bach's Adriano in Siria and the highly acclaimed UK premiere of Gluck’s La Clemenza di Tito. Ian has also devised a series of ‘Mozart Travelogue’ and ‘Haydn Revealed’ concerts for the Orchestra of the Classical Opera Company. Ian is a professor at the Royal College of Music.

Quotes:

"Ian Page and his Classical Opera Company tackle it with burning enthusiasm. Recitatives are soon spinning off the stage with freshness and immediacy, and Page makes the performance really buzz"

Tom Sutcliffe, Evening Standard [La Finta Semplice]

"The conductor Ian Page's thoughtful tempi made for a brisk yet never breathless first movement, and an andante relaxing at a speed that also gave point to the main theme's significant silences. Throughout, a semi-chorus of burbling oboes and bassoons was a strata of inbuilt comedy. That miraculous finale moved in every sense, propelled by the skill of these players and the kind of invention that placed the birthday hero way ahead of any rivals."

Nicholas Williams, The Independent [Jupiter Symphony]

"Quite an achievement for an opening season…Under the conductor Ian Page, the orchestra gave the singers all the momentum they could have wished for. Their playing, punchy and dynamic from the first bar, made a be-suited and work-weary audience sit up and listen."

Erica Jeal, Opera [Grabmusik/ Apollo et Hyacinthus]

"Speed and lightness of touch are the essence, ideally matched by the young conductor Ian Page with the Brava Ensemble playing very decently."

Tom Sutcliffe, Evening Standard [The Marriage of Figaro]

"He gave a remarkable performance of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's 4 th Symphony - among many other things. His knowledge and love of music shone through every bar. I think he has a great future in our craft."

Georg Tintner, conductor of the Naxos Bruckner Symphony cycle

"…an artistic director with a genuine sense of vision."

Andrew Stewart, Classical Music