With an “incisive, lively, inventive” (Baroque News) vision and approach to the baroque and
Classical soundworld, and a dedication to breathing life back into long-forgotten repertoire,
British conductor David Bates has established a distinctive and compelling career across the
UK, Europe and beyond, attracting acclaim for “superbly engaging, theatrically thrilling”
performances (Gramophone) of “real beauty, velvety sonorities, and heady gracefulness”
(Der Tagesspiegel), “intense, entertaining, full of humour but also depth.” (rbb24)

David’s 26/27 season opened with his making his main stage debut at the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden, conducting Richard Jones’s Olivier Award-winning production of
Handel's Alcina, and continues with his debut at English National Opera in Iphigenie en
Tauride. He returns to Garsington Opera to conduct The English Concert in a production of
Handel’s Serse, makes his debut in concert with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, and with
his ensemble La Nuova Musica (marking their 20 th anniversary season) he continues
appearances with regular partners including a programme ranging from Monteverdi and
Cavalli to Michel Legrand at Wigmore Hall, Bach’s B minor Mass at St John’s Smith Square,
and London Handel Festival’s revival of Aci Galatea e Poloifemo.

Highlights of recent seasons have included conducting Stefan Herheim’s new production of
Idomeneo with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in his debut at Theater an der Wien, his
debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Die Zauberflote, Handel’s Giustino at the Royal Opera
and Ballet Covent Garden’s Linbury Theatre, performances of Messiah with the
Bournemouth Symphony, Idomeneo with Boston Baroque and a return to Opéra de Rouen
for Agrippina. He led concerts with the Orchestra of the 18th Century, Deutsche Oper Berlin
and Opéra de Rouen, and with La Nuova Musica he conducted tours of Mozart’s C minor
Mass and Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,

Following a very successful debut at the Komische Oper in a new production of Gluck’s
Orfeo ed Euridice by Damiano Michieletto in 2022, he has since returned there to conduct
Handel’s Saul and Hercules. Elsewhere he has conducted Handel’s Alcina for Glyndebourne
Festival with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Alcina and Monteverdi’s Orfeo for
Staatsoper Hannover; Handel’s Serse with Opéra de Rouen Normandie; Monteverdi’s
L’Incoronazione di Poppea at The Grange Festival and Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the
Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists while, on the concert platform, he has
explored Mozart and Beethoven with the Munich Symphony Orchestra. Directing from the
harpsichord, David’s previous opera productions have included Rinaldo for Glyndebourne on
Tour; Cesti’s Orontea at the Innsbrucker Festwochen; Cavalli’s La Calisto for Cincinnati
Opera; Iphigénie en Tauride at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and Vivaldi’s
Farnace with the Tony Award-winning theatre director Garry Hynes at the Spoleto Festival in
the United States.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, David
Bates initially embarked on a professional singing career before turning to
directing/conducting, and founded La Nuova Musica in 2007, dedicated to the music of the
Baroque and Classical periods. A recent highlight was a semi-staged performance of

Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the 2022 BBC Proms, described as “a superbly evocative
night” in The Times and “a highly shaped, highly articulated performance, a musical tour de
force that filled the hall” in Opera Today. Together with La Nuova Musica, David has made
numerous award-winning recordings for Pentatone and Harmonia Mundi. Gluck’s Orfeo ed
Euridice on Pentatone, featuring Iestyn Davies and Sophie Bevan, was shortlisted for a 2020
Gramophone Award, and their CDs for Harmonia Mundi received ‘Le choix de France
Musique’ and Gramophone ‘Editor’s Choice’.