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| Bernard McDonald enjoys an international freelance career as a conductor and coach after garnering wide-ranging experience as a vocal coach, assistant conductor and chorus director with major opera companies in America, Europe and the Far East. Upcoming engagements include L’incantesimo (Montemezzi) and Gianni Schicchi for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh. Among his most recent successes were a brand new performing version of Cavalli’s Ormindo at the Pittsburgh Opera; Così fan tutte at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow, Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Theater of Pittsburgh; La Cenerentola (Bay View Music Festival, Michigan); Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle and La tragedie de Carmen (De Nieuwe Opera Academie) in Amsterdam and The Hague. A native of Dumbarton, Scotland, he studied piano at the RSAMD and coaching and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati (CCM) in the United States. Professional training at the Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera led directly to an invitation to join the music staff of the New York City Opera and he was subsequently Head of Music and Chorus Master at the Florida Grand Opera in Miami. He was based full-time at Glyndebourne until 2005, where as Chorus Master he prepared over twenty-five productions to great critical acclaim for a host of internationally renowned conductors, highlights including Idomeneo with Sir Simon Rattle, Theodora with Harry Bicket, Die Zauberflöte with Sir Charles Mackerras and Otello with Vladimir Jurowski. He has also worked with, among others, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Netherlands Opera Chorus and the Netherlands Radio Choir. Also in demand as a coach and educator, in 2008 he is a Visiting Artist at CCM in Cincinnati and is a regular coach at the RSAMD. In 2009 he will be a featured artist at CSU Summer Arts in Fresno, California. |  |
