Rory Macdonald stands out as one of the most engaging British conductors of his generation, leading stylish performances of a notably wide range of operatic and symphonic repertoire. He is an experienced teacher and has given masterclasses to young conductors and singers in Adelaide, San Francisco. St Louis, Chicago and Toronto. He is a regular guest tutor and external examiner at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.
On the concert podium highlights include guest engagements with such orchestras as the Royal Concertgebouw, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Adelaide Symphony, Queensland Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Tokyo City Philharmonic and Nagoya Philharmonic amongst many others.
In great demand as an operatic conductor, he has conducted new productions for major opera houses around the world. Notable highlights have included Hänsel und Gretel, Fidelio, Barbiere di Siviglia, Das Rheingold, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Owen Wingrave (Royal Opera House), Albert Herring, Così fan tutte, Idomeneo, La Bohème (Glyndebourne), Barber of Seville, Elixir of Love, Pearl Fishers (English National Opera), Peter Grimes (Brisbane Festival), The Magic Flute (Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Opera Australia),The Turn of the Screw (Vienna Konzerthaus), The Rape of Lucretia (Houston Grand Opera), Carmen (Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Houston Grand Opera, Sao Carlos Lisbon), Così fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro (Oper Frankfurt), Fra Diavolo (Opera di Roma), A Village Romeo and Juliet (Wexford Festival) and The Cunning Little Vixen (Bergen National Opera) amongst others.
Rory has given the première performances of works by notable composers including Sir James Macmillan, Carl Vine, Sally Beamish and Geoffrey Gordon. His discography includes Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with Nicola Benedetti (Decca), Eric Chisholm's Piano Concertos with Danny Driver (Hyperion), The Beauty Stone by Arthur Sullivan (Chandos) and two highly acclaimed discs of the symphonies of Thomas Wilson with the RSNO (Linn).
