The London Handel Festival has announced that Gregory Batsleer has been named as its new Festival Director, effective immediately. Batsleer will succeed Samir Savant, who stepped down from the position at the end of July 2021.

Batsleer has served as Artistic Director of the National Portrait Gallery’s choir in Residence program, the first in-house music program by a gallery or museum in the world. He has produced and curated performance for the Southbank Centre, Wilderness Festival, and Latitude. In 2017, he co-founded Future Stages, a charity which helps disadvantaged children get into the performing arts. Batsleer is also the co-founder and Artistic Director of Festival Voices, an ensemble dedicated to cross-art collaboration.

“I am thrilled to have been appointed the new Festival Director of the London Handel Festival,” says Batsleer. “Handel’s music has an extraordinary ability to inspire and speak to 21^st-century London. As we emerge from a cultural hibernation, I’m incredibly excited for what we can achieve. This will be a new and innovative chapter for the Festival in which we aim to be the go-to destination for the performance of Handel’s music, and in turn contribute to London’s reputation for boundary-pushing creativity.”

LHF Chair Richard Hopkins says on the appointment: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted we have chosen Greg to lead us forward to the next stage in the Festival’s growth and development. From a very strong field of candidates, Greg impressed us most with his vision, passion and enthusiasm for the role. We are convinced that Greg is the right person to help us deliver Handel’s universal appeal both to our existing and new 21^st-century audiences.”