Paul McCreesh
“It’s an awesome sound … and McCreesh maintains that theatrical level of drama...a performance that really does reinvent one of the greatest works in the choral canon.”
The Guardian on Haydn’s Creation
Paul McCreesh has established himself at the highest levels in both the period instrument and modern orchestral fields and is recognised for his authoritative and innovative performances on the concert platform and in the opera house. Together with the Gabrieli Consort and Players, of which he is the founder and Artistic Director, and which celebrated its 25th anniversary in the 2006/7 season, he has performed in major concert halls and festivals across the world and built a large and distinguished discography for Deutsche Grammophon.
McCreesh works regularly with the major European orchestras, which in recent and current seasons include the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle, Danish Radio, Camerata Salzburg, MDR Leipzig, UBS Chamber Orchestra at the Verbier Festival and the orchestra of Santa Cecilia di Rome. He has also built strong relationships with several orchestras including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris, Orquesta Nacional de Espana, Netherlands Philharmonic and Kammerorchester Basel with whom he tours regularly, and in the 08-9 season debuts include Finnish Radio Symphony and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras. McCreesh conducts a wide range of repertoire, including much of the standard orchestral repertoire, and is renowned for his expertise in choral works, especially those from the oratorio tradition.
McCreesh has established a strong reputation in the field of opera, and last season he conducted Handel’s Tamerlano at the Teatro Real in Madrid, with a cast that included Placido Domingo, and in 08-9 he returned there with Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno. For Welsh National Opera, he has conducted Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice and Handel’s Jephtha, to considerable critical praise, and he has also conducted Mozart and Handel at the Royal Danish Opera and Komische Oper, Berlin.
McCreesh’s recent recordings for Deutsche Grammophon include Mozart’s C Minor Mass and Gluck’s rarely performed opera Paride ed Elena with Magdalena Kožená, Handel arias with Rolando Villazón and Handel’s Saul, described in The Times as “one of the most roundly satisfying Handel oratorio performances for some time”. The Road to Paradise, a collection of sacred choral music from the renaissance to the present day was released in June 2007, of which the Sunday Times said “There are riches here, superbly sung by the Gabrielis.” His most recent recording, of Haydn’s Creation received a 2008 Gramophone Award in the Record of the Year, choral category. Rave reviews described the disc as “thrilling, marvellously sung and characterised” (The Telegraph) and “awe-inspiring... exceptional” (BBC Music Magazine).
Paul McCreesh has been Director of Brinkburn Music (in Northumberland, UK) for many years, and in 2006 was appointed Artistic Director of the Wratislavia Cantans Festival in Wrocław, Poland, one of Eastern Europe’s most prestigious and vital cultural events. McCreesh is also passionate about working with young musicians. He works regularly with Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and many international youth orchestras and choirs.
Paul McCreesh is represented by Jessica Ford at Intermusica.
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