Paul Daniel

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

Paul Daniel CBE (born 5 July, 1958 [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/the_hitch/article1148244.ece Birthdays for 5 July 2003. "The Times", 5 July 2003.] ] , Birmingham, England) [ [http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/birminghampost/reviews/tm_headline=daniel%2Ds-forever-young%26method=full%26objectid=18631796%26siteid=50002-name_page.html Christopher Morley, "Daniel's forever young". "The Birmingham Post", 16 February 2007.] ] is an English conductor. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera and 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. In the late '80s he was Musical Director of a number of amateur choirs, notably Wokingham Choral Society [ [http://www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk Wokingham Choral Society, home page] ] , often featuring his (then) future wife, the soprano Joan Rodgers [ [http://www.wokingham-choral-society.org.uk/pastconcerts.html WCS, Past Concerts] ] .

His career began to come to the fore in the 1990s. 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", Korngold's "Violanta" (in concert), "Boris Godunov" (with which Opera North made its debut at the Proms 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 [ [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article814653.ece Richard Morrison, "An operatic baton charge". "The Times", 21 January 2003.] ] 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.

Daniel encountered difficulty early in his tenure at ENO, with the departure of Dennis Marks as ENO's general director about a month after Daniel's own arrival. This forced Daniel unexpectedly to assume a more public role as the artistic face of the organization, until the arrival of Nicholas Payne as general director. One analysis of this situation was that this additional work distracted Daniel from developing a fuller rapport with the orchestra. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/05/11/bacol11.xml Rupert Christiansen, "The arts column: Daniel's trials in the ENO lions' den". 11 May 2005.] ] In December 2003, Daniel announced his resignation from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/05/neno05.xml Nigel Reynolds, " ENO musical director resigns". Telegraph, 5 December 2003.] ] In addition, towards the later part of his tenure, there were reports of clashes between Daniel and ENO artistic director Sean Doran. [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1653863,00.html Mark Honigsbaum, "Chaos at the Coliseum after shock resignation of ENO artistic director". "The Guardian", 30 November 2005.] ] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/22/nopera22.xml Rupert Christiansen, "Chairman of opera house defends his record as he quits". Telegraph, 22 December 2005.] ] He expressed concerns about the future of ENO in an April 2005 interview with "The Guardian" [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1465090,00.html Charlotte Higgins, "House of pain". "The Guardian", 22 April 2005.] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1466251,00.html Charlotte Higgins, "Outgoing ENO boss speaks out". "The Guardian", 22 April 2005.] ] , which led to the Director of Marketing Ian McKay booing Daniel at the conductor's last performance as ENO music director. [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1502372,00.html Richard Jinman, "ENO chief follows up boos with apology". "The Guardian", 9 June 2005.] ]

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

In September 2005, Daniel presided at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall for the first time. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/09/12/bmproms12.xml Ivan Hewett, "Bigger, and even better". Telegraph, 12 September 2005.] ] [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/proms2005/story/0,,1567877,00.html Tom Service, "BBCSO and Chorus/Daniel" (review of 2005 Last Night of the Proms). "The Guardian", 12 September 2005.] ]

In May 2007, Daniel was named the next Principal Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO), effective as of January 2009. [ [http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=182&ContentID=29025 Stephen Bevis, "English maestro to conduct WASO". "The West Australian", 17 May 2007.] ] He had made his guest conducting debut with the WASO in 1995, and returned in April 2006. [ [http://www.gramophone.co.uk/newsMainTemplate.asp?storyID=2807&newssectionID=1 Harriet Cunningham, "Paul Daniel named principal conductor in Perth". "Gramophone", 21 May 2007.] ]

References

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.