Gavin Sutherland (conductor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gavin Sutherland (born 1972) has established a flourishing and varied career and is in international demand as a conductor, composer/arranger and pianist.

Born in County Durham, England, he was active in music from a very early age. He studied conducting, piano and orchestration at Huddersfield University and graduated with first-class honours, as well as gaining the Kruczynski Prize for Piano and the Davidson Prize for Distinction Brought to the Institution.

Music for dance has played a very important part in Gavin’s career, beginning with his appointment as pianist and staff conductor for Northern Ballet Theatre from 1992 – 98. On the basis of his first CD, the critically acclaimed British Light Music Discoveries on ASV, Gavin began a healthy relationship with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia in its roles on the concert platform and as the orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet (involving both national and international tours). Gavin has featured as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and has also guest conducted frequently for English National Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, New Adventures and South African Ballet Theatre.

His prolific output of over sixty-five recordings have been made all over the world, predominantly with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, for labels such as ASV, Sony, Warner Classics, Naxos Marco Polo, Dutton-Vocalion, Campion and Olympian. He has played a large part in the current revival of British Light Music chiefly through several popular series of discs, although he has recorded works as wide-ranging as Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and the chart-topping Carry On Album and the single release of the Radio 4 UK Theme.

Gavin appears regularly in concert with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra (particularly as a conductor for BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night), the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In May 2001, Gavin began another lasting relationship, as Principal Guest Conductor of the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, for whom he now conducts regularly both in Melbourne and Sydney Opera House. He has also guest conducted orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Wellington Sinfonia, the Auckland Philharmonia, the North of England Concert Orchestra, Scottish Opera and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a conductor, Gavin is becoming increasingly known as a composer/arranger. He regularly supplies arrangements performed by the Australian Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony, BBC Concert, Royal Opera House and Hallé Orchestras amongst others, and his new arrangement of Giselle for the Norwegian National Ballet was revived by Milwaukee Ballet in 2004. Recent compositions include a musical, Little Women, which premiered in London in summer 2000, a clarinet concerto, several chamber works and a one-act ballet, Revolting Rhymes.

As a pianist Gavin performs regularly as a concerto soloist, often directing from the keyboard, and appears as a recitalist, accompanist and chamber musician. He has recently released two live recordings of improvisations and compositions, Piano Pastimes, together with two volumes of Clarinet Kaleidoscope with his wife, the clarinettist Verity Butler, whom he married in June 2004.