Alpesh Chauhan appointed Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company
Congratulations to Alumnus Alpesh Chauhan, appointed Music Director of Birmingham Opera Company.
Birmingham-born Alpesh, who studied cello and conducting at the RNCM, will stand alongside fellow alumnus and BOC Artistic Director Graham Vick, leading the Company on its mission to make great opera for all in the city.
Assistant Conductor with the CBSO between 2014 and 16, highlights of Alpesh’s career include a subscription concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, his BBC Proms début with the BBC Philharmonic and a production of Turandot in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. For the past five years he has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma, and he regularly appears as a guest with orchestras across the UK and overseas.
Alpesh made his UK opera début in 2019 with Birmingham Opera Company, the CBSO and director Graham Vick for Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. He is a finalist in the International Opera Awards 2020.
Alpesh Chauhan said: ‘It’s a huge privilege for me to take up the post of Music Director at the Birmingham Opera Company. Following the success of last year’s project – Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk – I’m particularly excited to work more alongside Graham Vick – one of the world’s greatest opera directors. It’ll be an honour to stand at the front of this special organisation which combines its massed forces to be a shining beacon for Birmingham. Growing up in Birmingham gave me the best of musical starts – being immersed in a city of culture at the highest level – and I’m now extremely happy to be a regular contributor to the city’s glowing cultural output. I am especially delighted to be a part of an organisation such as BOC which constantly thinks outside of the box with its totally immersive performances, successfully broadening the opera audience.’
Alpesh will start his new role in July.
16 June 2020
