(Credit: Patrick Allen)

The Birmingham Opera Company has named Alpesh Chauhan its new Music Director effective July 1, 2020.

Chauhan will work alongside Artistic Director Graham Vick leading the Company on its mission to “make great opera.”

Chauhan was Principal Cello with the CBSO Youth Orchestra and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He went on to perform alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Chauhan made his UK opera debut in 2019 with Birmingham Opera Company leading Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.”

“It’s a huge privilege for me to take up the post of Music Director at the Birmingham Opera Company. Following the success of last year’s project – Shostakovich’s ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ – I’m particularly excited to work more alongside Graham Vick – one of the world’s greatest opera directors,” Chauhan said in a press release. “It’ll be an honor to stand at the front of this special organization which combines its massed forces to be a shining beacon for Birmingham. Growing up in Birmingham gave me the best of musical starts – being immersed in a city of culture at the highest level – and I’m now extremely happy to be a regular contributor to the city’s glowing cultural output. I am especially delighted to be a part of an organization such as BOC which constantly thinks outside of the box with its totally immersive performances, successfully broadening the opera audience.”

The conductor is an advocate of music education for young people and has worked with ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and the symphony orchestras of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Northern College of Music.