“Michael Waldron and his band navigate their way through the score sensitively”

(London Evening Standard)

Michael Waldron works regularly with many of the top choirs and orchestras in the UK and beyond, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Academy of Ancient Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,  Polyphony, London Mozart Players, Holst Singers, City of London Choir, Camden Symphony Orchestra, Tonbridge Philharmonic, Band of the Royal Marines, Woking Symphony Orchestra, Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra and the London Camerata.

Waldron is founder and Artistic Director of the London Choral Sinfonia. He is Artistic Director of London Lyric Opera, Musical Director of Islington Choral Society, and has also held positions with Guildford Choral Society, Epworth Choir, and the University of West London Chamber Choir.

Waldron’s large and varied discography has received great critical acclaim. His debut release O Holy Night with the London Choral Sinfonia was selected by The Guardian as one of their Top Christmas Albums. Together with the LCS and Orchid Classics, he embarked on a multi-album project recording orchestral and music by Richard Pantcheff. His album, Colourise, features a previously unrecorded cantata by Lennox Berkeley, and a world premiere recording of Vaughan Williams 5 Mystical Songs in an original chamber orchestration, featuring baritone Roderick Williams. Amongst numerous 5 star reviews, critical praise for Colourise included selection by The Times as one of their ‘Best Albums of 2022’.

This season has seen the release of the album, Mirabilis: The Music of Stephen Hough, chosen as ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone, and selected as one of their ‘Best Albums of 2023’. January saw the release of Vaughan Williams: Retrospect. Chosen as ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone, the album was praised, saying ‘Waldron secures splendidly articulate and idiomatic results from his assembled forces… first-rate sound and presentation.’

Highlights this season include Coram Boy (Chichester Festival Theatre, The Lowry), Sweeney Todd (Theatre Royal, Bath), HMS Pinafore (Oxford Playhouse), Duruflé Requiem (Segovia Cathedral, Valladolid Cathedral), concert performances for the National G&S Opera Company, and Interim Director of Music for the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Recent highlights include Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (IF Opera), HMS Pinafore (Buxton International Festival), Carlos Acosta’s On Before (Norwich Theatre Royal), concerts with Polyphony (Swansea Festival); Britten St Nicolas (Dartington International Festival); Humperdink Hansel & Gretel (Iford Opera); workshops for the Royal Opera House; Elgar Cello Concerto, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem and Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 with Tonbridge Philharmonic; an all-America programme with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Choir; and a recital tour of Italy.

Waldron’s operatic engagements also include Opera Della Luna’s critically-acclaimed production of Monckton’s The Arcadians and Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore at Wilton’s Music Hall. He conducted the critically-acclaimed production of Verdi La Traviata for Go Opera and its subsequent revivals; a Channel 4 film of Handel arias for London Lyric Opera, directing Opera Della Luna’s nationwide tour of Offenbach’s Croquefer and Tulipatan, as well as performances of Offenbach’s Orpheus and the Underworld at The Lowry, Manchester; and performances of Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin as part of Ryedale Festival Opera.

Born in Manchester, Waldron began his musical training as a chorister at St Ambrose College. He studied under Stephen Layton during his four years as Organ Scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. During this time, Michael was involved with the Choir’s numerous international tours, concerts, broadcasts and Gramophone award-winning recordings. In 2007 Michael was winner of the Cambridge University Edith Leigh piano competition.