Paul Daniel

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This is about the conductor. For the stage magician see Paul Daniels.

Paul Daniel is an English conductor who began to come to the fore in the 1990s and is particularly noted for performances and recordings of British music.

As a boy he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral, where he received musical training. He attended King's College, Cambridge where he studied music. After graduation he went on to learn conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where his teachers included Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Edward Downes.

In 1982, he received a position on the musical staff of the English National Opera, remaining there until 1987. He also became the Music Director of Opera Factory.

From 1990 to 1997 he was Musical Director of Opera North and Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia. He attracted attention widely for his ability to find and bring to the stage worthwhile operas that had never entered the repertory and for his support for newer repertory. Performances included Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue, Tippett's King Priam, Don Giovanni, Schreker's Der Ferne Klang, Boris Godunov (with which Opera North made its Prom debut in 1992), Don Carlos, Wozzeck, Gloriana, Il Trovatore, Pelleas and Melisande, the world premieres of Michael Berkeley's Baa, Baa, Black Sheep and Benedict Mason's Playing Away, which was premiered at the Munich Biennale and won awards for best production and design, Jenůfa, Luisa Miller, Falstaff and Tannhäuser.

He was Music Director of English National Opera from September 1997 until 2005. While there he conducted The Flying Dutchman, Falstaff, From the House of the Dead, The Tales of Hoffmann, Manon, Otello, Boris Godunov, La Traviata, Dialogues des Carmelites, Der Rosenkavalier and Peter Grimes. He had already worked extensively with the company where productions included the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus (together with the conductor Elgar Howarth), The Marriage of Figaro, Glass' Akhnaten, Tosca, Carmen, Rigoletto and performances of King Priam, as part of the Tippett birthday celebrations.

In February 1998 Paul Daniel received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera, and in 1999 he received a Gramophone Award for his English music series on the Naxos label. He was awarded the CBE in the 2000 New Year’s Honours list.

In September 2005 Paul Daniel presided at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall. The Guardian reported: Conductor Paul Daniel, making his debut in charge of the Last Night, and joining an elite group of British maestros to have led the Prommers in their annual jingoistic jamboree, proved himself a versatile musician as well as a witty raconteur.

[edit] Trivia

At the opening of the Millennium Dome, Daniel wore a coat designed specifically for the occasion by Vivienne Westwood. He went on to wear it for other occasions, including the BBC Proms.