Scottish-born Garry Walker is the Music Director

of Opera North, a position he was appointed in

the 20/21 season following the huge success of an

impressive and powerful Billy Budd and a double

bill of Gianni Schicchi & The Rite of Spring. His

conducting of Martinů’s The Greek Passion and

Bizet’s Carmen in the 19/20 season was also

widely acclaimed. Also, for Opera North he has

conducted Rigoletto, Tosca, Falstaff, Albert

Herring, Mozart’s Requiem, A Midsummer Night’s

Dream and Der fliegende Holländer. In the

2023/2024 season, he also made his debut with

Opera Australia conducting Tosca and symphonic

repertoire including Dvořák 9, Gulda Cello

Concerto, Gershwin and ending the season with

Mahler 1 and Strauss Four Last Songs with the

orchestra of Opera North.

In the 2025/26 season Garry conducts new

productions of La bohème, Peter Grimes, and

David Fennessy’s Pass the Spoon, and leads the

Orchestra of Opera North in concerts as part of

the Kirklees Concert Series.

A natural leader, Garry has previously held the

positions of Chief Conductor of the Rheinische

Philharmonie Koblenz from 17/18 until the 21/22

season, Permanent Guest Conductor of Royal

Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest

Conductor of Royal Scottish National Orchestra,

Principal Conductor of Paragon Ensemble, and

Artistic Director of Conducting at the Royal

Conservatoire of Scotland.

Garry is an outstanding musician whose particular

strengths lie in the classical period, Mahler,

Sibelius, Dvořák and music of the 20th and 21st

centuries. During his tenure as Chief Conductor of

the Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz, his many

wide-ranging performances have encompassed

programmes of Adès, Beethoven, Bartók, Britten,

Berio, Brahms, Dvořák, Haydn, John Williams,

Kodály, Mahler, Mozart, Prokofiev, and many

more. Together, Garry and the orchestra made

their Amsterdam Concertgebouw debut in 2018,

resulting in an immediate re-invitation, and a

closing concert in 2022 to commemorate the end

of his tenure.

English Chamber Orchestra and Academy of St

Martin in the Fields. His regular appearances at

the Edinburgh International Festival have

included notable performances of Mahler’s

Second Symphony, Kurtág’s Stele, and

MacMillan’s The Quickening, all with the RSNO.

Further afield Garry has worked with orchestras

including the Aalborg Symfoniorkester,

Gothenburg Symphony, Dortmund

Philharmoniker, Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma,

Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg,

Musikkollegium Winterthur, Deutsches

Symphonie Orchester Berlin, and Orchestra della

Toscana. Garry has worked often in Australasia,

having conducted the Adelaide, Melbourne and

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras as well as

Auckland Philharmonia. In North America he has

worked with the Utah Symphony, Pacific and

Asheville Symphony Orchestras.

Other operatic highlights outside of Opera North

include David McVicar’s acclaimed new

production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and

Raskatov’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The

Flying Dutchman, A Dog’s Heart for English

National Opera, Cimarosa’s The Secret Marriage

for Scottish Opera, Janáček’s The Cunning Little

Vixen and the critically acclaimed world premiere

of Sawer’s The Skating Rink for Garsington Opera,

the world première of Stuart MacRae’s opera The

Assassin Tree and Britten’s Curlew River for the

Edinburgh International Festival. For the Linbury

Studio, Royal Opera House he revisited the

MacRae and conducted Poulenc’s La Voix

Humaine. On the continent he has conducted

Curlew River for Lyon Opera, and a new

production by Calixto Bieito of Hosokawa’s Hanjo

at the Ruhr Triennale.

Amongst the many international soloists with

whom Garry Walker has collaborated are Maxim

Vengerov, Sarah Chang, Jonas Kaufmann, Truls

Mørk, Mischa Maisky, James Ehnes, David

Geringas and Branford Marsalis.

His discography includes works by Havergal Brian

and Matthew Taylor on Toccata Classics, Edward

Harper on Delphian and Dvořák on Sony.

In the UK Garry Walker has worked with all the

BBC orchestras, Hallé, London Philharmonic,

London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool

Philharmonic, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham

Symphony and National Youth Orchestra of

Scotland. Chamber orchestras have included the

Britten Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Royal

Northern Sinfonia, Scottish Chamber Orchestra,This biography is for website use only. For a full and updated biography, please email nicki.wenham@rayfieldallied.com

THIS BIOGRAPHY IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION - for an up to date version please email nicki.wenham@rayfieldallied.com