Bertie Baigent

Robert Edward Series "Bertie" Baigent (born 26 March 1995) is a British conductor, composer, and organist.

Bertie Baigent
Baigent in 2022
Born (1995-03-26) 26 March 1995
Oxford, England
Alma mater
EraContemporary
Relatives

Biography

Baigent's aunt is the mathematician Caroline Series. His grandfather was the physicist George Series. Baigent read music at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar (2013) and where his teachers included Benjamin Walton. He subsequently completed an MA at the Royal Academy of Music in 2018, where his instructors included Sian Edwards.

Conducting career

Baigent was conductor of the Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently of the London Young Sinfonia from 2016 to 2018. Baigent has been music director of Waterperry Opera Festival since 2017.[1] From 2018 until 2020, he was the assistant conductor of the Colorado Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra.[2]

In February 2022, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra appointed Baigent as one of its new roster of six assistant conductors.[3] In June 2022, Baigent was awarded the Grand Prix for the best overall performance at the inaugural International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, as well as winning the Classical Award and the Symphony Award.[4][5] Subsequently, also in June 2022, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra appointed Baigent as its new assistant conductor.[6]

As a guest conductor, Baigent has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Torino and the New Japan Philharmonic. In June 2023, he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival.[7]

Compositional career

Baigent has won prizes in numerous composition competitions, including the Stainer and Bell Award for Choral Composition,[8][9] the BBC Inspire Competition 2013,[10] and the NCEM Young Composers Award.[11][12] His work Joie de Vivre was commissioned for and played at the unveiling of a plaque to mark the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the City of Westminster.[13][14][15][16] Baigent's compositions have been performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Antonio Pappano, the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon, the Bath Philharmonia and Fretwork. In 2015, a recording of his organ work Bright spark, shot from a brighter place was released by the German CD label JUBAL.[17][18] His opera Paradise Lost, based on Milton’s eponymous epic poem, premiered in London in August 2022.[19]

References
  1. "Conductor - Bertie Baigent".
  2. "DYAO Side-by-Side". Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. "Meet the new CBSO Assistant Conductors" (Press release). City of Birmingham Orchestra. 16 February 2022. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  4. "Winners". International Conducting Competition Rotterdam. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  5. "Bertie Baigent is de eerste winnaar van nieuw dirigentenconcours in Rotterdam". NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  6. "ICCR-winnaar Bertie Baigent wordt assistent-dirigent" (Press release). Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  7. "Glyndebourne Festival Opera: L'elisir d'amore". Glyndebourne Festival Opera. 11 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  8. "News from Choir & Organ Magazine". Choir & Organ. UK: Rhinegold Publishing. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  9. "Stainer & Bell Award for Choral Composition 2015". stainer.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  10. "BBC Inspire".
  11. Andy Campbell. "NCEM – The National Centre for Early Music – NCEM Young Composers Award 2011 – Winners". ncem.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  12. "Winners announced in National Centre for Early Music Instrumental Composers Award (From York Press)". m.yorkpress.co.uk. 4 November 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  13. "City of Westminster, Royal Philharmonic Society Unveil Plaque for Beethoven's 'Ninth' : Classicalite". classicalite.com. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  14. "Plaque to mark Beethoven's Ninth Symphony". BBC News. UK: BBC. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  15. "Beethoven plaque unveiled to mark first 9th Symphony performance". Beethoven News. classicfm.com. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  16. "Westminster City Council plaque marks the site of the first UK performance of Beethoven's Ninth | gramophone.co.uk". gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
  17. "CD Release: The Franz Liszt Memorial Organ in Weimar". robertpecksmith.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  18. "Jubal CD Catalogue: Organ Music". jubal.de. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  19. "Paradise Lost: a new opera by Bertie Baigent after John Milton". theshipwright.co.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
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