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.
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.
2025/26 season
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
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
23, 28, 31
May 2026
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
The Opera House, Lewes, UK
4pm
Rossini, Il Turco in Italia
5, 7, 12, 15, 20
June 2026
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
The Opera House, Lewes, UK
4pm
Rossini, Il Turco in Italia
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, 9
July 2026
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
The Opera House, Lewes, UK
4pm
Rossini, Il Turco in Italia
14 July 2026
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland
1.05pm
Suppé, Morning, noon, and night in Vienna
Massenet, Letter aria (Werther)
Saint-Saëns, Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila)
Glazunov, Concert waltz No. 2 in F major
Bizet, Seguidilla and Habanera (Carmen)
Massenet, Le Cid ballet suite
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
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 'Pathétique'
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
De Doelen
Beethoven, Overture to Leonore No. 1
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
De Doelen
Strauss, Tod und Verklärung
New Japan Philharmonic
Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall
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
