Michael Rafferty, conductorMichael Rafferty is the Music Director and co-founder of Music Theatre Wales and has conducted all its productions.

Music Theatre Wales is a pioneering force in contemporary opera in Britain with a growing international reputation which presents its work to as wide an audience as possible. The company tours annually through Wales and England and regularly performs its productions in Europe. It presents newly commissioned works and contemporary classics.

Since its foundation in 1988 Music Theatre Wales has created 20 productions and commissioned 9 full length operas. It has performed these works across Britain, Europe and beyond. Productions have been broadcast on BBC Radio on 3, BBC 2 TV and recorded for CD. In 2002, Music Theatre Wales became the first Associate Company of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with whom it co-commisions and co-produces, and performs regularly in its Linbury Theatre.

In addition, his international career as a conductor has included Britten’s Church Parables for Opera National du Rhin, the Canadian premiere of Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy, John Hardy’s orchestral score of the film The Life of David Lloyd George, Veryan Weston’s Songs from a Prison Diary at Le Mans Jazz Festival and many performances with orchestras and ensembles including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, Norway’s BIT 20 Ensemble, Musikfabrik of Cologne, the Composers’ Ensemble and PM Music Ensemble. Altogether, he has conducted the works of more than seventy living composers and thirty opera productions. Future projects include the Premieres of new operas by Michael Berkeley, Eleanor Alberga, Huw Watkins and Aribert Reimann and the premiere and tour of a score to the silent film 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' by Lynne Plowman with the London Mozart Players.

May 2008

RepertoireMichael Rafferty - Works Conducted (2010)
* = Stage Work

John Adams
Scratchband

Thomas Adès
Living Toys

Eleanor Alberga
Letters of a Love Betrayed*
Suite from Dancing with the Shadow

Julian Anderson
Alhambra Fantasy

Malcolm Arnold
Concerto for Flute and Strings

Carola Baukholt
Treibstoff

David Bedford
Cadenzas and Interludes

Beethoven
Corialanus Overture
Symphony No 7

Luciano Berio
O King
Points on the Curve to Find

Michael Berkeley
Jane Eyre*
Entertaining Master Punch
For You*

Harrison Birtwistle
Down by the Greenwood Side*
Tragoedia
Punch and Judy*
Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum
Silbury Air

Philippe Boesmans
Julie*

Pierre Boulez
Derive
Memoriale

Benjamin Britten
Simple Symphony
Sinfonietta Op1
The Rape of Lucretia*
Turn of the Screw*
Curlew River*
The Burning Fiery Furnace*
The Prodigal Son*

Gavin Bryars
The Adnan Songbook

Martin Butler
Roll it along!

Philip Cashian
Moon Song

Steve Crowther
Kiszko

Peter Maxwell Davies
Antechrist
Purcell Fantasia
The Martyrdom of St Magnus*
Eight Songs for a Mad King*
Dances from the Two Fiddlers
Renaissance Scottish Dances
The Lighthouse*
Cinderella*
Dinosaur at Large*
Jupiter Landing*
Dangerous Errand*

Max Charles Davies
Panorama

Michael Daugherty
Dead Elvis

Edward Elgar
Serenade for Strings
Salut d’Amour
Chanson de matin
Chanson de nuit

Michael Finnissy
Mr Punch*
Music for Pontypridd Brass Band

Philip Glass
The Fall of the House of Usher*
In the Penal Colony*

Julian Grant
The Owl and the Pussy Cat

John Hardy
Myferdod
Flowers*
The Roswell Incident*
The Life Story of David Lloyd George*
Haearn*
Ellen MacArthur: Into the Eye of a Storm

Jonathan Harvey
Soleil Noir/Chitra
You

Haydn
Symphony No.104 'London'

Morgan Hayes
Senedd Sound

Alun Hoddinott
The Silver Swimmer
Divertimenti

Gustav Holst
Savitri*

Engelbert Humperdinck
Hansel and Gretel*

Charles Ives
Symphony No 3
Ragtime Dances
The Unanswered Question

Ruth Jewell
Can I join in please?

Paul Kellett
Song of Numbers

Oliver Knussen
Ophelia Dances

Hans Kox
Rochester’s Second Bottle*

Gyorgy Ligeti
Piano Concerto
Le Grand Macabre - Prelude for 12 Car Hooter

Magnus Lindberg
Corrente
Jubilees

Nick Lloyd
Fascination and Fury

Enid Luff
For the Many Dead

Witold Lutoslawski
Chain 1

Jayson Mackie
A Darker Shade of Samba

Steve Martland
Remembering Lennon

Colin Matthews
Suns Dance

Nicholas Maw
Ghost Dances

Felix Mendelssohn
Overture – The Fairy Tale of the Fair Melusina
Incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Scherzo
Intermezzo
Nocturne

John Metcalf
Dances from Kafka’s Chimps

Claudio Monteverdi
Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda*

Tom Morgan
Inventing Flight

Kath Morris
Orchestral work

Mozart
Bassoon Concerto
Horn Concerto No 1
The Impresario*

Dominic Muldowney
Out of Danger

Tristan Murail
Winter Fragments

Patrick Nunn
Hextych

Michael Nyman
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat*
Mozart on Mortality

Stephen Oliver
The Garden*
Spiders*

Nigel Osborne
The Electrification of the Soviet Union*
The Piano Tuner*

Eilir Owen Griffiths
Puppet Master

Christopher Painter
Cad Goddeu
Aderyn Rhiannon

Michael Parkin
Lady Masery and the Laily Worm
Still Life

Daniel Parrott
Music for a Quiet Place

Suzanne Parry
Of Dark Love

Anthony Payne
The Stones and Lonely Places Sing

Peri (arr. Oliver)
Euridice*

Lynne Plowman
Waves to Drown In
Gwyneth and the Green Knight*
The Return of King Raedwald
Stargazer
House of the Gods*
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari

Poulenc
Le Bal Masque
L’Histoire de Babar

Anthony Powers
Fast Colours
The Swing of the Sea

Purcell (arr. Britten)
Chaconne

Maurice Ravel
Pavane pour une infante defunte

Timothy Raymond
Hymn Tune Harmonies

Peter Reynolds
Serenata III

Michael Robinson
A Pretty How Town

Carl Ruggles
Portals

Saariaho
Lichtbogen

Arnold Schoenberg
Pierrot Lunaire*
Kammersymphonie Op.9

Bob Smith
Tenby and Solace

Igor Stravinsky
Ragtime
The Soldier’s Tale*

Toru Takemitsu
Raincoming

Michael Tippett
Little Music for Strings
The Knot Garden*

Simon Thorne
Anticipatory Waltz for the End’s End
America

Michael Torke
Adjustable Wrench

Andrew Toovey
Ubu*

Mark Anthony Turnage
Three Farewells
Dark Crossing

Edgar Varese
Integrales
Octandre

Param Vir
Ion*

Rolf Wallin
Boyl

William Walton
Façade

Huw Watkins
Crime Fiction
Scenes from Under Milk Wood

Judith Weir
King Harald Sails to Byzantium

Veryan Weston
Songs from a Prison Diary

John Woolrich
Harlequinade
The Turkish Mouse
In the House of Crossed Desires*
Music from the House of Crossed Desires

Iannis Xenakis
Phelgra

Frank Zappa
G Spot Tornado

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Press reviewsThe Observer 19 September 2010, Fiona Maddocks
'In the Penal Colony', Philip Glass, Royal Opera House, London
‘Simply staged by Michael McCarthy, lit by Ace McCarron and conducted by Michael Rafferty, the performance was focused and taut. That ever-remarkable baritone Omar Ebrahim, always sensitive to text, had chilling authority as the Officer. Michael Bennett warmed to the high role of the Visitor, finding fluency after a hesitant start. Gerald Tyler squirmed and writhed potently as the Condemned Man. The Music Theatre Wales Ensemble shone in this challenging, finger-exhausting, concentration-sapping score. Catch it on tour but read the Kafka first.’

Independent on Sunday 19 September 2010, Anna Picard
'In the Penal Colony', Philip Glass, Royal Opera House, London
‘Brilliantly played by the ensemble under Michael Rafferty’

Financial Times 18 March 2008
'Punch and Judy' Harrison Birtwistle
‘...expertly conducted here by Michael Rafferty’

Evening Standard 18 March 2008
'Punch and Judy' Harrison Birtwistle
'A score such as this, which explores extremities of tessitura and dynamic spectrum, runs the risk of merely assaulting the audience's ears. The achievement of Michael Rafferty and his admirable ensemble is to confer a level of coherence on the sonic mayhem and to give shape to the recurring sequences of which the various scenes consist.’

Sunday Times 11 November 2007
'Julie' Philippe Boesmans
‘Boesmans’s score is prismatically allusive, and was skilfully projected under Michael Rafferty’

The Independent 22 May 2006
'House of the Gods' Lynne Plowman
‘Michael Rafferty conducts with command.’

The Guardian 3 May 2005
'The Knot Garden' Michael Tippett
‘the opera is pungently conducted by Michael Rafferty’

The Times October 2004
'The Piano Tuner' Nigel Osborne
‘Michael Rafferty drew rich, varied sound from the ensemble’

Forum Opera 25 September 2003
'Ion' Param Vir (Strasbourg Opera)
‘Dans cette partition très exigeante, l'équipe réunie impressionne par son aisance et les qualités de sa réalisation. A commencer par la direction, d'une vigueur et d'une maîtrise remarquables, de Michael Rafferty (directeur du Music Theatre Wales, ce chef n'a pas moins de cinquante productions lyriques contemporaines à son actif !), à la tête d'un Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse époustouflant et véritablement superbe.’


Reviews of Michael Berkeley's 'For You' at the Royal Opera House, London

The Times, 30 October 2008
'For You' Michael Berkeley, Royal Opera House, London
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article5039366.ece

The Independent, 30 October 2008
'For You' Michael Berkeley, Royal Opera House, London
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/for-you-linbury-studio-theatre-london-978262.html

The Guardian, 30 October 2008
'For You' Michael Berkeley, Royal Opera House, London
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/oct/30/1

The Observer, 2 November 2008
'For You' Michael Berkeley, Royal Opera House, London
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/02/ian-mcewan-for-you

The Sunday Times, 2 November 2008
'For You' Michael Berkeley, Royal Opera House, London
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/opera/article5047396.ece

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2011-2012 Season proposal
Lynne Plowman - The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (2009)

A live accompaniment to the seminal German expressionist silent film, 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari'. Directed by Robert Wiene in 1919, this cult film is one of the first and most famous examples of German expressionist cinema. The unique, stylised studio sets, in which the whole piece is filmed, set this work apart and give it a highly theatrical quality, and a visual impact which is still mesmerising today.

Lynne Plowman’s score is an original, dynamic, tightly structured, contemporary music soundtrack to the film. Commissioned and premiered by the London Mozart Players, the work is scored for a chamber orchestra of eleven musicians (plus conductor) and is performed live, alongside presentations of the film on the big screen.

Michael Rafferty has conducted 10 performances of this piece with the London Mozart Players.

fl(picc); cl(bcl): bsn; tr; trb; pc; 2vln; vla; vlc; db (72’)

A video extra can be seen on Lynne Plowman's site via this link

Press review on Lynne Plowman's site via this link

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