Musical Director - Michael Downes

Michael Downes is Music Director at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He 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.He has worked as a conductor with numerous choral, operatic, orchestral

and contemporary music groups in Sussex, Kent, Cambridgeshire and London; he is

the founding artistic director of the Bergamo Ensemble, with whom he has conducted

many well-respected premieres of work by young British composers.

Alongside his work as a conductor, Michael is active as a writer and lecturer on music.

He has lectured on music and opera for institutions including the Royal Opera House,

English National Opera, Glyndebourne, the Deal Festival and Ireland's Wexford Festival.

He regularly reviews music books for the Times Literary Supplement and is currently

writing a book on the music of Jonathan Harvey, to be published by Ashgate in 2009.