We're delighted to announce that Christian Curnyn has joined the Rayfield Allied roster for general management.
Christian Curnyn is widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading conductors specialising in the Baroque and Classical repertoire. In 1994 Christian founded the Early Opera Company with whom he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, BBC Proms, Cheltenham, Spitalfields, York Early Music, Kilkenny Arts Festivals and Het Concertgebouw. They have an extensive discography for the Chandos label.
“Christian Curnyn is a go-to man for this music and the arias fairly tripped along under his conducting.” Rupert Christiansen, Opera Magazine (HANDEL Acis & Galatea with the Early Opera Company, Buxton International Festival)
“…the restrained, elliptical cadences of Monteverdi’s score, fluently conducted by Christian Curnyn […] a Ulysses to remember, which is unlikely to be equalled on these shores for some time.” Max McGuinness, Financial Times, 5* (MONTEVERDI The Return of Ulysses with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Kilkenny Arts Festival)
“[The production] offers genuine and persuasive dialogue with the musical performance – which was led incisively and with great sensitivity by Christian Curnyn. On the opening night, he drew finely shaded phrasing from a pared-down ENO orchestra (Baroque-like playing throughout) as well as moments of visceral, gritty continuo drama...” Flora Wilson, Opera Magazine (HANDEL Rodelinda, English National Opera)
He is a regular at English National Opera where successes have included Olivier Award-winning productions of Handel’s Partenope and Rameau’s Castor et Pollux (dir. Barrie Kosky), After Dido (Katie Mitchell’s realisation of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Charpentier’s Medée, and Handel's Rodelinda.
For The Royal Opera, Covent Garden he has conducted Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera, Cavalli's L'Ormindo to inaugurate their series at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s The Globe, where he returned for Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo (nominated for an Olivier Award), and Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse at The Roundhouse. Most recently he conducted Apollo e Dafne and Ariodante on the main stage.
In Europe he has conducted titles for Stuttgart Oper (Rameau’s Platée, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Handel’s Alcina), Frankfurt Oper (Cavalli’s La Calisto and Gluck’s Ezio), and Komishe Oper Berlin (Rameau’s Castor et Pollux and Zoroastre) as well as working with AKAMUS, Concerto Koln, Ensemble Resonanz and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra to name a few.
He has conducted the Messiah with several European symphony orchestras as well as a tour of Australia and is often praised for the authentic sound and playing he generates from modern instrument orchestras.
Recent and forthcoming highlights include concerts with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC NOW, and Komische Oper Berlin, Acis and Galatea with his Early Opera Company for the Buxton Festival, a new production of Handel’s Orlando for Oper Halle which will also celebrate the 100th year of the Halle Festival, Semele with AKAMUS and Opera Collective Ireland and a return to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for a new production. With the Early Opera Company he will conduct concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Bruges and Amsterdam Concertgebouw and St John Smith Square as well as record their next disc for Chandos records of Handel’s Amadigi.
We are thrilled to welcome Christian to the Rayfield Allied roster, where he will be managed by Nicki Wenham and Sophie Richardson.
