"…Paul McCreesh's conducting of this rich and thrilling score was full of vitality, colour and fire - no thin blooded authentic preciousness here…" The Daily Telegraph
Paul McCreesh, founder and Artistic Director of the Gabrieli Consort and Players, has established himself at the highest level in the period instrument field and is recognised for his authoritative and innovative performances on the concert platform and in the opera house. Together with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, he has performed in major concert halls and festivals across the world and has built a large and distinguished discography for Deutsche Grammophon.
Paul McCreesh now works regularly with modern instrument orchestras. Recent engagements have included Stavanger Symphony, WDR Koln, Orquesta National d'Espana, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony and Stockholm Philharmonic. Further to these successes, McCreesh has developed a core of strong relationships with orchestras that he conducts several times each season, including the Netherlands Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia di Roma, Kammerorchester Basel and l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Debuts in forthcoming seasons include concerts with the Bergen Philharmonic, Malmo Symphony, Bern Symphony the Tonhalle, Zurich, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Budapest Festival Orchestra.
McCreesh has established a strong reputation in the field of opera and in 2008 he will conduct two Handel operas for the Teatro Real, Madrid. Making his debut in a new production of Tamerlano with a cast that includes Placido Domingo, McCreesh will return to the same house later in the year with Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. For WNO he has conducted Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice and Handel's Jephtha to considerable critical praise and has also conducted Mozart and Handel at the Royal Danish Opera and Komische Oper, Berlin.
At the start of 2006, Paul McCreesh was appointed Artistic Director of Wratislawia Cantans in Wroclaw, Poland. This festival is one of Eastern Europe's most prestigious and vital cultural events. As a result of its historic association with Penderecki, the festival has a traditional focus on oratorio which McCreesh will develop further, beginning in his inaugural year with performances of Mozart's C Minor Mass and Haydn's Creation .
Throughout 2006 / 2007, the Gabrieli Consort and Players celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary. Marking the occasion with engagements throughout the year, they extended their London presence with special concerts at The Barbican and a residency at Cadogan Hall, in addition to their own ongoing series of concerts at Christ Church Spitalfields. The Consort's recent recordings for Deutsche Grammophon include the Mozart C Minor Mass with Camilla Tilling and Sarah Connolly, the rarely performed Gluck's Paride ed Elena and Handel's Saul, described in The Times as "one of the most roundly satisfying Handel oratorio performances for some time." The Consort's most recent recording the 'Road to Paradise', a collection of sacred choral music, also received great acclaim, described in the Sunday times as "There are riches here, superbly sung by the Gabrielis."
Paul McCreesh is represented by Intermusica.
January 2008 / 482 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.