# Bryan Balkwill > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bryan_Balkwill > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bryan_Balkwill.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Balkwill > Source revision: 1353985555 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|English conductor (1922 – 2007)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Use British English|date=February 2014}} '''Bryan Havell Balkwill''' (2 July 1922 – 24 February 2007) was an English orchestral [conductor](/source/Conducting). Balkwill was born in London. He started to learn to play the [piano](/source/piano) at the age of four and was educated at [Merchant Taylors' School](/source/Merchant_Taylors'_School%2C_Northwood). From there he won a [scholarship](/source/scholarship) to the [Royal Academy of Music](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Music). After service in the [Second World War](/source/World_War_II) in Italy he was appointed as [répétiteur](/source/r%C3%A9p%C3%A9titeur) for the [New London Opera Company](/source/New_London_Opera_Company) in 1947 where he became its assistant conductor.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071119024104/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/03/09/db0902.xml Obituary], ''Daily Telegraph'', 9 March 2007, accessed 12 March 2007 With them he made his debut at the [Cambridge Theatre](/source/Cambridge_Theatre) conducting [Carl Ebert](/source/Carl_Ebert)'s production of ''[Rigoletto](/source/Rigoletto)''.[Noël Goodwin](/source/No%C3%ABl_Goodwin), [http://www.grovemusic.com/shared/views/article.html?section=opera.008349 "Balkwill, Bryan"], ''[Grove Music Online](/source/Grove_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians)'', accessed 29 June 2007 {{Subscription required}} Around the same time he was the associate conductor of the [International Ballet Company](/source/International_Ballet_Company). In 1950 he became [répétiteur](/source/r%C3%A9p%C3%A9titeur) at [Glyndebourne Festival Opera](/source/Glyndebourne_Festival_Opera) and during the same year was appointed as principal conductor of the [London Festival Ballet](/source/English_National_Ballet). He returned to Glyndebourne in 1953 as chorus master and associate conductor. During the 1950s he played a part in creating the [Art Council's](/source/Arts_Council_of_Great_Britain) Opera for All programme and was its [musical director](/source/Music_director) from 1953 to 1963. Also during the 1950s he was principal conductor of the [Wexford Festival](/source/Wexford_Festival_Opera) for seven years. He made his debut at the [Royal Festival Hall](/source/Royal_Festival_Hall) in 1957 conducting the [Royal Philharmonic Orchestra](/source/Royal_Philharmonic_Orchestra). In 1959 he was appointed a resident conductor at the [Royal Opera House, Covent Garden](/source/Royal_Opera_House) and he remained there until 1965, during which time he gave more than 200 performances of 16 operas. He toured with the [English Opera Group](/source/English_Opera_Group) to the USSR and Portugal where he conducted ''[Albert Herring](/source/Albert_Herring)'' and ''[A Midsummer Night's Dream](/source/A_Midsummer_Night's_Dream_(opera))''. From 1963 to 1967 he succeeded [Charles Groves](/source/Charles_Groves) as music director of the [Welsh National Opera](/source/Welsh_National_Opera). He was also the joint musical director of the [Sadler's Wells Opera](/source/Sadler's_Wells_Opera) from 1966 to 1969. Here he gave the first performance of [Richard Rodney Bennett](/source/Richard_Rodney_Bennett)'s opera ''A Penny for a Song''. After this he went [freelance](/source/Freelancer), conducting the BBC orchestras, the [Orchestre National de France](/source/Orchestre_National_de_France) and in Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver.Obituary in ''[Opera](/source/Opera_(British_magazine))'', May 2007, 540. From 1979 to 1992 he was professor at the School of Music at [Indiana University](/source/Indiana_University). He retired in 1992 and returned to Britain. During his career he became particularly associated with the performances of [Joan Sutherland](/source/Joan_Sutherland), including conducting her at Covent Garden in ''[Alcina](/source/Alcina)'', ''[La sonnambula](/source/La_sonnambula)'' and, in her most celebrated role, ''[Lucia di Lammermoor](/source/Lucia_di_Lammermoor)''. He also conducted [Peter Pears](/source/Peter_Pears) in ''[Peter Grimes](/source/Peter_Grimes)'', [Jon Vickers](/source/Jon_Vickers) in ''[Aida](/source/Aida)'' and [Régine Crespin](/source/R%C3%A9gine_Crespin) in ''[Tosca](/source/Tosca)''. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | title=[Co-Music Director, Sadler's Wells](/source/English_National_Opera) | before=[Colin Davis](/source/Colin_Davis)| years=1966–1969 | after=[Charles Mackerras](/source/Charles_Mackerras) }} {{s-end}} {{Portal bar|Classical music|Opera}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Balkwill, Bryan}} Category:1922 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Place of death missing Category:People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Category:English male conductors (music) Category:Music directors (opera) Category:Indiana University faculty Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Category:20th-century English conductors (music) Category:20th-century English male musicians Category:British Army personnel of World War II --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bryan Balkwill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Balkwill) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Balkwill?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.