David Curtis
Festival Director

David Curtis is Artistic Director of Orchestra of the Swan, chamber orchestra for the Heart of England. The driving force behind the Swan's nationally acclaimed Take Note! and Music of Our Time series, his thought-provoking programming and infectious enthusiasm for contemporary music have established him as a conductor of note on the international stage, conducting in the USA, Germany, where he has recorded with Dimitri Ashkenasi and the Hamburg Symphonika, Hungary, Belgium, China, Romania, Sweden, Iceland, Italy, Finland, the Czech Republic and Greece.

He has appeared with the Prague Chamber Orchestra and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra and he is a regular guest soloist and conductor in Finland, appearing with the Mikkeli City Orchestra, the Roveniemi Chamber and Yvaskyla Symphony Orchestras in the concert hall and on Finnish Radio. In 2005 he gave the first performance of a new chamber symphony by leading Finnish composer Aki Yli-Salomaki.

In autumn 2006 he conducted in the biennial Nordic Music Days Festival with the Icelandic contemporary music ensemble Caput, the first British composer to be invited to do so, giving the world premiere of works by four leading Nordic composers for Icelandic Radio and in May 2007 conducted the Moravian Symphony Orchestra in the prestigious annual Olomouc Dvorak's Festival and the Policka Martinu Festival.

David is a champion of new work and has commissioned and given the world premieres of numerous new works by British, Bulgarian, Chinese, Nordic, and American composers including Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, Oscar Colomina i Bosch, Joe Cutler, Tansy Davies, Joseph Duddell, Sampo Haapamäki, Lars-Petter Hagen, Thuridur Jónsdottir, Peter Lieuwen, Joseph Phibbs, Julian Philips, Marie Samuelsson, Dobrinka Tabakova, Errollyn Wallen, Shu Wang and John Woolrich.

David delights in working with musicians of all ages and abilities. He has been guest conductor at the Moores School of Music in Houston USA and given conducting masterclasses for students, at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School. In spring 2005, he conducted the American School International Orchestra in Geneva and has since conducted the orchestra in London, Beijing and Singapore. He has wide experience as guest conductor with many other student orchestras in the UK; Warwick University, Bedford County Youth Orchestra, Fife Youth Orchestra, Sheffield University, Gloucester Academy of Music and Birmingham Schools Symphony.

Keen to take music into the wider community, David was responsible for the Swan's residency at Birmingham International Airport and for overseeing their extensive and highly imaginative Education programme. He continues to be in demand as a speaker, giving illuminating descriptions of life on the podium and behind the scenes.

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