Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie will conduct the Welsh National Opera Orchestra to accompany the finalists in the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Main Competition. Organized without an audience in strict compliance with the latest government COVID-19 health and safety guidelines, the competition takes place from June 12 to 19, 2021 at St. David’s Hall in Cardiff. The performances will be broadcast across the BBC to audiences across the UK and available on BBC iPlayer. Singer named BBC Cardiff Singer of the World receives Cardfif Trophy and £ 20,000.

Christie says: “I am delighted to be directing for the BBC Singer of the World Competition, all these complicated years. This truly epic endeavor reminds me of several similar projects I did at the Lyric Opera in Chicago, so I’m ready for the challenge of the wide variety of music and the rush of the non-stop performance program that accompanies a competition like this. this. I also look forward to being one of the people who help all of the competing artists realize their musical vision and elevate them to even higher performance levels whether or not they win the top prize! “

Christie won a 2019 Grammy Award (Best Opera Recording) for the world premiere recording of Mason Bates’ The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs with The Santa Fe Opera (PENTATONE). In 2017, he conducted the world premiere at the Santa Fe Opera, “with suave assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle), with “precision and pizzazz” (Santa Fe New Mexican), and “presiding over[d] on an expertly executed performance “(The Financial Times). He was featured in Opera News in August 2012 as one of 25 people believed to” come out and become major forces in the field in the decade to come ” . At Minnesota Opera, Christie has directed 24 productions over eight years, six seasons as first-ever Music Director (2012-2018). Christie has also conducted performances with the San Francisco Opera, the Opera Theater of St. Louis, Opernhaus Zürich, Finnish National Opera, Scottish Opera, Lyric Opera in Kansas City, and Lyric Opera in Chicago, Opera Company in Philadelphia, Wexford Festival Opera and Opera in Montreal.

Now in its 20th edition, the biennial competition has launched the careers of some of opera’s biggest stars, such as Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Bryn terfel , Jamie Barton and 2019 baritone winner Andrei Kymach from Ukraine. The 2021 Main Prize Jury is chaired by the Director General of the Welsh National Opera Aidan Lang , and includes two famous stars of the opera world, the Welsh bass-baritone Neal davies and American soprano Roberta alexander . In addition to Christie and the WNO Orchestra, the singers will also be accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Andrew Litton .

This year’s event features singers from 15 countries including Austria, China, Denmark, England, Georgia, Iceland, Mongolia, South Korea, Russia, South Africa , the United States, Venezuela, Wales and, represented for the first time, Madagascar and Kosovo. With an average age of 29, the contestants passed through three selection stages from a record number of applications with virtual auditions for all selection rounds.

The full list of finalists and full broadcast information can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/22t9Rj3gjspxd0l6L1DmWXg/2021-concurrents

About Michael Christie: Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie is an innovative conductor, equally at home in the symphonic world as he is in the opera world, who strives to to make the audience’s experience during their performances entertaining, enlightening and enriching. The New York Times reports that “Michael Christie is a director open to adventure and challenge,” and the Cincinnati Enquirer states, “If Michael Christie represents the future of music in this country, the future does indeed look bright. “.

Deeply committed to bringing new works to life, Michael Christie has championed commissions from prominent and emerging composers including Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, Unsuk chin , Michael Daugherty, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Gray , Daron Hagen , Jennifer Higdon, Matthew Hindson, Huang Ruo , Marjan Mozetich, Stephen Paulus, Kevin Puts and many more.

Michael Christie has been a strong supporter of multicultural programming throughout his career. He created a World Music Festival at the Phoenix Symphony and a World Music Series at the Colorado Music Festival. As the conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia, he toured Japan and recorded his first album with a didgeridoo player. William barton . With the Phoenix Symphony he created and recorded Mark Gray ‘s Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio, libretto by Navajo poet Laura Tohe. As Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, he has conducted performances of Tan Dun ‘s The Gate and created the Nuevo Latino Festival orchestra.

Christie’s career as a conductor, which spanned more than 20 years, has included serving as Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005-2013) and the Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005-2010), and as conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (2001-2004) in Australia, as well as guest appearances at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Symphonies of Dallas, St Louis, Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Santa Rosa. Christie’s many European engagements have included conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchester National de Lille, Swedish and Dutch Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, NDR Hannover Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic. In addition, Christie enjoys a strong notoriety in Australia, where he conducted the Sydney Symphony, the Tasmanian Symphony, the Opera Queensland and the Western Australian Symphony in Perth.

Michael Christie first gained international attention in 1995 when he received a special award for “Outstanding Potential” at the first Sibelius International Conductor Competition in Helsinki. As a result of the competition he was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he later worked with Daniel Barenboim as well as at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season. For more information visit www.michaelchristieonline.com .