Michael Downes

Michael Downes became the first full-time Director of Music at the University of St Andrews in 2008, having previously held a similar post at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He is the conductor of the St Andrews Chorus, the largest choir in the region with over 150 singers, and has established an opera company at the University with whom he recently conducted a highly acclaimed production of Britten's Rape of Lucretia, directed by Scottish Opera's Kally Lloyd-Jones.

Michael read English and Music at King's College, Cambridge and completed a doctorate on the music of Debussy at the University of Sussex. He studied the cello with teachers including Ioan Davies and Timothy Mason and conducting with teachers including Lionel Friend and Colin Metters. Before moving to Scotland, he worked as a conductor with numerous choral, operatic, orchestral and contemporary music groups in Sussex, Kent, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and London.

Alongside his work as a conductor, Michael is active as a writer and lecturer on music. He has lectured on opera for the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, and Ireland's Wexford Festival and has given pre-performance talks for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He regularly reviews music books for the Times Literary Supplement, and his first book, a study of contemporary British composer Jonathan Harvey, was published by Ashgate in 2009.

Related Projects

Orchestra in Residence at the University of St Andrews

Poetry in Concert