Paul Daniel

Paul Daniel is an English conductor known for introducing new and forgotten operas and orchestral works. He’s also known for his work with British opera companies, and his style is often described as sensitive, mature, and magnetic. He was born in Birmingham in 1958, and when he was a child, he sang in the Coventry Cathedral Choir. As a chorister, he participated in the weekly performances and received musical training. Later, he studied music at King’s College, Cambridge, and conducting with Adrian Boult and Edward Downes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His first professional appointment as a conductor began in 1982 at the English National Opera. He was music director of Opera Factory from 1987 to 1990, followed by seven years with Opera North and the English Northern Philharmonia. He quickly developed a reputation for reintroducing forgotten operas such as Korngold’s Violanta and Dukas’ Ariane et Barge-Bleue. He continued this practice as music director of the English National Opera from 1997 to 2005, and he also conducted many world premieres including Glass’ Akhnaten, Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, and Turnage’s The Silver Tassie. As a guest conductor, Daniel led the West Australian Symphony Orchestra in 2006, and he became its principal conductor in 2009. Since 2007 he was also the principal guest conductor of the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, and became its principal conductor in 2013, at the conclusion of his contract with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he was appointed music director of the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra. Daniel conducted on several recordings from around this time, including The Solent: Fifty Years of Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and the video Alban Berg: Lulu. He stepped down from his position with the Bordeaux Aquitaine National Orchestra in 2022, and in 2023 he appeared on the album Offenbach: La Princesse de Trébizonde with Anne-Catherine Gillet, Virginie Verrez, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Daniel remains active as a recording artist and as a guest conductor in the U.K. and abroad. ~ RJ Lambert