Biography
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Director of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and the Handel &
Haydn Society, Grant Llewellyn is renowned all over the world for his
exceptional charisma, energy and easy authority in music of all styles
and periods. Born in Tenby, South Wales, Llewellyn won a Conducting
Fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 1985 where
he worked with such major artists as Bernstein, Ozawa, Masur and Previn.
As Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra he conducted
concerts at the Tanglewood Festival and the Boston Subscription Series
as well as concerts in the “Boston Pops”.
To date, Grant Llewellyn’s career has led him to hold positions
with three European orchestras: Principal Conductor of the Royal Flanders
Philharmonic, Principal Guest Conductor of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
and Associate Guest Conductor with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Notable European guest engagements have included the Frankfurt Radio
Sinfonie Orchestra, the SWR Radio Sinfonie Orchestra Stuttgart and the
Helsinki Philharmonic.
Grant Llewellyn has conducted many major North American orchestras,
including the symphonies of Boston, Houston, Montreal, Milwaukee, St.
Louis, Calgary and Toronto. As Music Director of the Handel & Haydn
Society, America’s leading period orchestra, Llewellyn has quickly
gained a reputation as a formidable interpreter of music of the Baroque
and classical periods. Among the highlights of the Handel & Haydn
Society’s 2005-2006 season are staged performances of Purcell’s
Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with Chinese director Chen Shi-Zheng,
and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with James Gilchrist as Evangelist.
Llewellyn’s first complete season as New Music Director of the
North Carolina Symphony includes a series of concerts called “Crossing
the Atlantic” featuring composers and works from the United States
and the United Kingdom. His appearance in 2003/2004 with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra included a major new work by Thea Musgrave commissioned
by the orchestra. In 2005/2006 he returned to the Calgary Philharmonic
and made debuts with the Colorado Symphony as well as the Florida Orchestra.
In the UK Llewellyn has guested with the Hallé, CBSO and Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to name but a few. He retains close
links with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra
of Wales, with whom he continues to undertake numerous television, radio
and recording projects (most recently John Adams’ Harmonium).
In 2002 Llewellyn’s conducting career became the subject of a
BBC Wales TV documentary. In September 2004 he was invited by the BBC
Proms to conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the Royal Albert
Hall, with a programme including the world premiere of Joby Talbot’s
Sneaker Waves and Shostakovich’s Symphony No.9.
An equally accomplished opera conductor, Grant Llewellyn has appeared
at the opera companies of English National Opera (The Magic Flute),
and the Opera Theatre of St Louis (Arianna, Radamisto, The Magic Flute).
In 2001 he embarked on a collaboration with the acclaimed Chinese director
Chen-Shi Zheng in a production of Dido and Aeneas at Spoleto Festival
U.S.A. This was followed by a staged version of Monteverdi’s Vespers
with the Handel & Haydn Society. Other projects have included numerous
opera galas as well as concert performances of operas by Britten, Rossini,
Verdi and Puccini. In 2003 Llewellyn made his debut with Opera North
in a new production of Massenet’s Manon. In June 2005 Llewellyn
conducted at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, one of the world’s
most prestigious singing competitions.
Grant Llewellyn lives in Cardiff with his wife Charlotte and their four
children.
August
2006
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