BERTIE BAIGENT

Conductor

Biography

Bertie Baigent came to international attention as the winner of the Grand Prix, Classical Prize, and Symphonic Prize at the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam 2022, following his ‘imposing’ and ‘spectacular’ performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 and the world premiere of Joey Roukens’s Night Flight with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Video

Since then he has established a strong presence on the international stage with a busy series of debuts and return engagements, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Tampere Philharmonic, and Bruckner Orchester Linz. In the 2024/25 season he made further debuts with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, Maggio Musicale in Florence, and the Osaka Philharmonic, working with soloists such as Imogen Cooper and Cédric Tiberghien, and in 2025/26 he looks forwards to debut engagements with Welsh National Opera, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg, as well as returns to Glyndebourne and Opera Holland Park.Other recent highlights have included concerts with Orchestre National de Lille at BOZAR in Brussels, a tour with Phion Orkest culminating with Bertie’s debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, St Louis Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, and Teatro Regio Torino.

Also active on the operatic stage, Bertie co-founded and has been Music Director of Waterperry Opera Festival since 2017.  There he has conducted acclaimed productions of all the Mozart/da Ponte operas, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Bizet’s Carmen, and Britten’s The Turn of the Screw.  He made his Glyndeboune Festival debut in 2023, stepping in at four hours’ notice to conduct L’elisir d’amore, and has returned every season since then.  Further opera productions include Handel's Semele at Opera Holland Park, and his own Paradise Lost, performed to sell-out audiences in London in 2022.Bertie works regularly in the world of historically informed performance – recently conducting the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in performances and radio broadcasts of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto – including directing from the harpsichord for Waterperry’s annual Messiah performances, Bach’s St John Passion, and forthcoming performances of the St Matthew Passion and Mass in B minor.Bertie was born in Oxford and studied the cello and piano before moving towards conducting and composition.  He read music at the University of Cambridge and subsequently studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards.  As an assistant conductor Bertie worked closely with artists such as Lahav Shani, Sir Mark Elder, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla on major international tours; he also served as cover conductor for the Dallas and St Louis Symphony Orchestras.


2024/25 season

21 & 22 August 2025

Opera Holland Park

Holland Park, London, UK
7.30pm

Handel, Semele

12–29 October 2025

Glyndebourne

The Opera House, Lewes, UK
4pm

Britten, A Midsummer Night's Dream

22 November 2025

Cambridge University Orchestra

West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, UK
8pm

Lili Boulanger, D'un soir triste
Rachmaninov, Piano concerto No. 1
Dvořák, Symphony No. 8

13 December 2025

Waterperry Opera Festival

Holywell Music Room, Oxford, UK
7pm

Handel, Messiah

20 December 2025

St Marylebone Festival

St Marylebone Parish Church, London, UK
5pm

Handel, Messiah

5 February 2026

Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg

Philharmonie, Luxembourg
5pm

Thomas Adès, Three Studies from Couperin
Ravel, Le tombeau de Couperin
Markus Brönnimann, Albula (world premiere)
Haydn, Symphony No. 45 'Farewell'

13 March 2026

Orchestre de Chambre du Luxembourg

Cercle Cité, Luxembourg
12.30pm & 7.30pm

Herrmann, Pyscho Suite
Schoenberg, Begleitungsmusik zu einer Lichtspielscene
Ives, Three places in New England
Shostakovich, Five Fragments Op. 42
Andrea Tarrodi, Birds of Paradise

29 March 2026

Welsh National Opera

Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, UK
4pm

National Opera Studio showcase

24 April 2026

Waterperry Opera Festival

Holywell Music Room, Oxford, UK
7pm

Bach, Mass in B minor

25 April 2026

St Marylebone Festival

St Marylebone Parish Church, London, UK
5pm

Bach, Mass in B minor

20 June 2026

St Marylebone Festival

St Marylebone Parish Church, London, UK
5pm

Rachmaninov, All night vigil (Vespers)

25 June 2026

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Palais des Beaux-Art, Charleroi, Belgium
8pm

Cello concertos with laureates of the Queen Elizabeth Cello Competition

26 June 2026

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Salle Philharmonique de Liège, Liège, Belgium
8pm

Cello concertos with laureates of the Queen Elizabeth Cello Competition

27 June 2026

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Triangel, Saint-Vith, Belgium
8pm

Cello concertos with laureates of the Queen Elizabeth Cello Competition

1 & 4 July 2026

Glyndebourne Festival Opera

The Opera House, Lewes, UK
4pm

Rossini, Il Turco in Italia

August 2026

Waterperry Opera Festival

St Marylebone Parish Church, London, UK
5pm

Puccini, La Bohème
Donizetti, L'elisir d'amore
Dvořák, Serenade for wind instruments
Final night gala concert


Media

Video

Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique'

Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
De Doelen

Video

Beethoven, Overture to Leonore No. 1

Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
De Doelen

Video

Strauss, Tod und Verklärung

New Japan Philharmonic
Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

Video

Documentary for ICCR

Produced by Nander Cirkel



Contact

Represented by Askonas Holt
For all enquiries, please contact:
Kate Sweeney, Artist Manager[email protected]
+44 (0)7973 614 609