Richard Laing

Since winning the sinfonia ViVA Conducting Scholarship in 2001, Richard has established a reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile young conductors in Britain. He is Music Director of Operamus, the Midland Sinfonia, the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, Lancashire Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Leamington Chamber Orchestra, the Leicester Bach Choir and the Midlands Chorale, Associate Conductor of the virtuoso young ensemble Sinfonia Cymru and of the internationally-renowned Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra in London, and a regular guest conductor with Queen's Park Sinfonia, Hallam Sinfonia, Chandos Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2002, after nine months of study, Richard graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a Master's degree, a postgraduate diploma in conducting, and the Conservatoire's Postgraduate Prize for the most outstanding contribution to the musical life of the college. Subsequently he was supported by the Foyle Foundation to work intensively on operatic conducting at Dartington with Diego Masson. He has conducted in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Richard's operatic performances have included Albert Herring, Hansel and Gretel and Noye's Fludde (Operamus), La Traviata and La Bohème (Dartington Festival Opera), Malcolm Williamson's English Eccentrics (Birmingham Conservatoire), Adrian Cruft's Dr Syn (Kent Opera) and Handel's Orlando (Pigotts). He has accompanied many distinguished artists including Brigitte Engerer, Anthony Halstead, Leonard Schreiber, Robert Hayward, Neil Jenkins, John Turner, Alan Hacker and Joanne Lunn. Richard is a conductor and coach in the Department of Vocal and Operatic Studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire where he assists Lionel Friend; he has premiered many new works, and is in demand as a coach at festivals and summer schools and as a leader of orchestral and choral workshops around the UK.

Richard studied violin at the University of Illinois and the RNCM, and plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Orchestra of the Swan, and as a guest leader for Queen's Park Sinfonia, Sinfonia of Birmingham, Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra.

In his limited spare time Richard pursues a wide range of academic interests: his undergraduate work in Manchester on John F. Kennedy's policy in Vietnam won him the Kaiser Award for American History, and he has presented papers on subjects as diverse as Hollywood film, reality TV and the Ring cycle at the International Conferences on Film and Literature at Florida State University and the International Wagner Symposium at the University of Adelaide. Among his proudest achievements are being appointed Vice President of the University of Illinois Triathlon Club and having articles published in the iconic games magazine White Dwarf.

Visit his website at www.richardlaing.co.uk