Martin
André went to the Yehudi Menuhin School where he studied
the piano. At Cambridge University he combined playing
the piano with conducting. Now as a conductor he
divides his time equally between the opera house and the
concert platform. Concert appearances in the UK have included the
Philharmonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Concert
Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra,
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, New
London Sinfonia, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra,
London Concert Orchestra, City of London Chamber
Orchestra, New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, as well as
concerts at the Bournemouth and Edinburgh International
Festivals and several broadcasts on BBC Radio.
Abroad he works regularly with the Limburgs Symphonie
Orkest in Holland, Orquestra Nacional do Porto and Remix
Contemporary Ensemble in Portugal, and in Norway with
Collegium Musicum, Tromsø Symfoniorkester and Bergen
Filharmoniske Orkester. Visits to Australia took him to
the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra, and also the
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, with whom he released his
first recording. He has also worked with the Jerusalem
Symphony Orchestra, including the finals of the
Bernstein International Singing Competition, and the
Peking Symphony Orchestra in Macau. Every year he
visits Tirana, Albania, on an initiative with the
British Council.
He made his opera debut conducting for Welsh National
Opera, with whom he spent many seasons as a resident
conductor. During this time he worked on a wide variety
of operas, particularly 19th century Italian
repertoire. He continues to work across a broad range
of composers, although is particularly recognised for
his interpretations of Verdi, Mozart and Janáček.
He has the rare distinction of being the only conductor
to have performed for all the major British opera
companies. Since leaving Welsh National Opera, he has
made guest appearances at the Royal Opera House,
Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Scottish Opera, English
National Opera, Opera North, Opera 80 and Opera Northern
Ireland. From 1993 to 1996 he was Music Director of
English Touring Opera. He was also Music Director for
the Opera North/RSC production of Showboat at the
London Palladium. In 2000 he conducted a live televised
version of The Marriage of Figaro for BBC TV,
shot on Location in Oxfordshire.
Internationally he has made numerous appearances in the
opera houses of Canada, the Czech Republic, France,
Germany, Holland, Israel, New Zealand, Portugal, South
Africa and the USA.
In 2005 he returned to Portugal for a
Stravinsky and Offenbach programme with Remix, as well
as the opening concert with of the new Casa da Música.
In Norway he performed Handel's complete Watermusic; in
London Massenet's opera Cendrillon at the Royal Academy
of Music, and the first concert in the Tippett Centenary
Festival at the Royal College of Music. That summer he
made his debut in Italy at the Ravenna Festival with Martinů's opera Julietta, and
that autumn made his
debut at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf with
Sullivan's operetta The Gondoliers.
In 2006 he had returned to the Limburgs
Symphonie Orkest in Holland for a Beethoven and
Mendelssohn programme, the Orquestra Nacional do Porto
for Shostakovich and Shchedrin, and he created the Youth
Orchestra of Portugal (OJCOM). This proved to be such a
success that he was asked to repeat the project later in
the year. The Orchestra was renamed Momentum Perpetuum
by the players, and this project will continue in
December.
In England he conducted Massenet's opera
Thaïs for Grange Park, to enormous critical acclaim,
Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth at the Buxton Festival,
Rigoletto for Opera North, and Prokofiev's ballet Romeo
and Juliet with the Orchestra of Opera North. In July,
at very short notice, he conducted a New Production of
Offenbach's Opera Blaubart at the Bregenz Festspiele.
In 2007 he returned to the Limburgs
Symphonie Orkest, Collegium Musicum Bergen and Orquestra
Nacional do Porto. He made his debut with the Noord
Nederlands Orkest and Central City Opera, Colorado, USA.
In 2008 he will return to Opera North and debut with
Garsington Opera.
He begins 2008 with the Opening Concert in The Nordic
Season for Orquestra Nacional do Porto in Portugal. In
February he will conduct Shostakovich’s massive 4th
Symphony at the Royal College of Music in London. He
follows this with 2 operas in England: Roméo et Juliette
for Opera North, and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
for Garsington Opera. In the autumn he returns to
Portugal to conduct Janathan Miller’s Production of
Verdi’s Rigoletto, and then makes his debut with de
radiokamer filharmonie of Holland, with a concert in
their Janáček Festival in Utrecht. In December he will
again do 2 concerts with Orquestra Nacional do Porto.
Last update:
15 / 12 / 2007
