About
Tempos, balance and phrasing all convey the impression we are in the company of that rare beast, an instinctive Mozartian.”
OPERA
Conductor Ian Page has established an outstanding reputation as one of the world’s leading interpreters of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. He is the founder and artistic director of The Mozartists (formerly Classical Opera), and is the creative driving force behind MOZART 250, a ground-breaking project which between 2015 and 2041 is exploring the chronological trajectory of Mozart’s life, works and influences. His numerous recordings have attracted widespread international acclaim, and include an ongoing complete cycle of the Mozart operas and a new ‘Sturm und Drang’ series.
Ian began his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and studied English Literature at the University of York before completing his studies in piano and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London. At the start of his career he worked on the music staff at Scottish Opera, Drottningholm, Opera Factory and Glyndebourne, and his early mentors included Sir Charles Mackerras and Georg Tintner.
With The Mozartists he has conducted most of Mozart’s operas, including the world premières of the ‘original’ version of Mitridate, re di Ponto and a new completion of Zaide. He has also conducted the UK premières of Gluck’s La clemenza di Tito, Telemann’s Orpheus, Jommelli’s Il Vologeso, Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe and Haydn’s ‘Applausus’ cantata, and the first new staging for 250 years of Johann Christian Bach’s Adriano in Siria. He made his Royal Opera House début conducting his own new performing edition of Thomas Arne’s Artaxerxes, and other career highlights have included conducting the opening two concerts of the 2016 Eisenstadt Haydn Festival, Handel’s Ariodante (with Ann Hallenberg in the title role), at the 2019 Drottningholm Festival in Sweden, and his Paris début at La Seine Musicale’s 2022 Mozart Maximum Festival. His future engagements include recording Volume 3 of his ‘Sturm und Drang’ series for Signum Classics, and his début at Bozar in Brussels, conducting Handel’s Messiah with the Belgian National Orchestra.
Ian devised and conducted The Mozartists’ recordings of ‘The A-Z of Mozart Opera’ (Sony BMG/Signum Classics) and ‘Blessed Spirit – a Gluck retrospective’ (Wigmore Hall Live) – both of which were selected for Gramophone magazine’s annual Critics’ Choice – and recital discs featuring tenor Allan Clayton (‘Where’er You Walk’) and soprano Sophie Bevan (‘Perfido!’) – both of which were shortlisted for the International Opera Awards. The first seven releases in his series of the complete Mozart operas have all received outstanding reviews, and he recently embarked on a new series of ‘Sturm und Drang’ recordings, the first two volumes of which were released on Signum Classics in 2020.
Ian has attracted widespread praise for his dynamic and dramatic music-making, his intelligent and imaginative programming, his ability to connect with audiences and lead them on a voyage of discovery, and his commitment to nurturing and championing outstanding young singers and players. He was a coach for the International Opera School at London’s Royal College of Music for several years, and has given masterclasses for the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, The Royal Scottish Conservatoire, The Drottningholm Festival and The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. A passionate spokesman for classical music, opera and the arts, he has broadcast on BBC radio and television and Sky Arts, written several articles for The Guardian, The Independent, Gramophone and Opera Now, and given lectures for The British Library and Martin Randall Travel.
Twitter
@IanPageMozart