{"id":1707,"date":"2026-07-16T20:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/?page_id=1707"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:58:13","slug":"opera","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/?page_id=1707","title":{"rendered":"OPERA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1708\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-430x287.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.david-todd.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/aIMG_0325-smaller-1-100x67.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>David is currently Director of Music of Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera, having recently returned to the UK from an eight-year-long career in Germany, where he was Kapellmeister and Head of Music at the Mainfranken Theater in W\u00fcrzburg and Assistant Chorus Master and Repetiteur at the State Theatre in Darmstadt.<\/p>\n<p>He made his German conducting debut with Bellini\u2019s<em>\u00a0i Capuleti e i Montecchi<\/em>, for which he was praised by Der Opernfreund for<em>\u00a0\u2018conducting full of colour and spirit, savouring every beat, every note and infecting the orchestra with his joy in the score, as well as the singers on stage.\u2019\u00a0<\/em>He has since conducted several operas, ranging from standard repertoire (<em>Die Zauberfl\u00f6te<\/em>,\u00a0<em>La clemenza di Tito\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Les contes d\u2019Hoffmann)<\/em>\u00a0to contemporary works, such as\u00a0<em>Karl und Anna\u00a0<\/em>by Christoph Ehrenfellner and <em>Ente und Wolf<\/em> by Anno Schreier.<\/p>\n<p>David recently participated in the finals of the Erich Bergel Conducting Competition and was also nominated for the critic\u2019s prize \u2018Orchestra of the Year\u2019 in German publication\u00a0<em>Die Opernwelt,<\/em>\u00a0when he stepped in as pianist at short notice to replace the orchestra in Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Makropulos Case.\u00a0<\/em>Recent work includes Britten\u2019s<em>\u00a0Death in Venice<\/em>\u00a0in Heidelberg and a new production of <em>La Traviata<\/em>, which recently toured to the Regensberg Festival.<\/p>\n<p>David was trained in opera at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he won the James Geddes Award, and the Solti Accademia in Venice, and subsequently worked for Opera Holland Park,<em>\u00a0<\/em>Opera North, Dorset Opera, and the Grimeborn festival (Turnage, <em>Greek<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, David began his blog \u2018Opera with a Hot Toddy\u2019 where he invites colleagues and friends from the opera world to discuss their work over a drink. His main series of articles offering practical advice to opera r\u00e9p\u00e9titeurs has recently been adapted and published online by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.schmopera.com\/\">Schmopera<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David is currently Director of Music of Oxfordshire Contemporary Opera, having recently returned to the UK from an eight-year-long career in Germany, where he was Kapellmeister and Head of Music [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1707","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>OPERA 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