Harry Spence Lyth - Biography

Resumé

Email: harry@harrylyth.com

Web: http://harrylyth.com

Temistocle , Berliner Kammeroper

...from the beginning Harry Spence Lyth causes the Overture to Johann Sebastian Bach's Opera Seria in the intimate Hebbel Theatre to bubble over in sheer fury, clear as glass and vividly transparent. From beginning to end he breathtakingly sustains the tension and demonstrates unequivocally how this music can be played on modern instruments in the original manner, true to eighteenth century performance practices.

(Dieter David Scholz, WDR Dortmund, 15.7.1999)

...under Harry Lyth the orchestra played with admirable vitality, awake to all the possibilities of articulation and musical gesture present in the music

(Berliner Zeitung 16.7.1999)

Ariadne auf Naxos, Budapest Chamber Opera

...The name of Harry Spence Lyth, the guest conductor for the evening, was unknown to me, but he made a very favourable impression. Lyth conducted with a sure hand and a fine sense for Straussian lyricism.

(Opera, March 1992)

Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzolla)

...under the very exact and inspired direction of the young conductor Harry Spence Lyth, who by the way was responsible for the exceptional revival of J.C.Bach's Temistocles, the work could not fail. Timing and coordination were excellent

Dr. Dieter David Scholz, Deutsche Well, 6.5.2002

Concert given by the Symphony Orchestra, Hochschule der Künste Berlin, on tour in Helsinki 1996

Whoever heard this concert can only draw one conclusion: Music education in Germany, in particular at the University of Arts, Berlin, is of a very high standard. This student orchestra plays like a good professional orchestra. In spite of the rather inadequate acoustics, Harry Lyth achieved first class results: Precision and intonation were excellent and the brass were not unduly strident. The masterstroke of the evening was the performance of Richard Strauss' Don Juan.

Seppo Heikinheimo (Ilmari Hauer, Helsinki)

Harry Spence Lyth

Harry Spence Lyth has established a considerable reputation as a discerning interpreter of the operatic and symphonic repertoire. International experience (Lyth has conducted in England, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and Hungary) has brought him into close contact with diverse traditions and cultures, contributing significantly to his development as an artist, creating a vibrant musical personality. His thoroughly researched performances are remarkable for their clarity of purpose and transparency of sound.

As well as pursuing a career as conductor with professional ensembles, Lyth has been a lecturer and member of the Faculty at the Berlin University of Arts since 1978 and his work with young musicians and conductors remains an essential part of his artistic life. His expertise in training orchestras and conductors led to an invitation in 2002 from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney to become their Conductor-in-residence.

Born in Hastings, England, Lyth started piano studies at the age of four and made his first solo appearance four years later. At nine he took up the violin. He gained a masters degree in music at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (John Rutter, David Willcocks) where his talent for forming and conducting ensembles emerged. He continued his conducting studies in Italy (Milan Conservatoire, Mario Gusella; Accademia Chigiana, Franco Ferrara) and Austria (Mozarteum, Carl Melles). During this time he received much inspiration and encouragement from Claudio Abbado who invited him to attend rehearsals at La Scala and whom he assisted for a performance of Mahler's seventh symphony at the Salzburg Festival. A conductors' seminar tutored by Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa in Tanglewood left a lasting impression on the emerging artist.

Following his opera-conducting debut in 1974 at the Piccola Scala, Milan, Lyth was appointed head of music staff and conductor at the Stadttheater St. Gallen, Switzerland where for four years he gained essential experience in opera, ballet and symphony, also forming a group for the performance of new music Gruppe Neue Musik St. Gallen. Thereafter he moved to Berlin from where he has pursued an international career as guest conductor. For four years he was regular guest conductor at the Municipal Opera House in São Paolo and in Rio de Janeiro, a period which included a Wagner centenary concert, opera productions such as Wozzeck and Der Fliegende Holländer, a gala concert to celebrate the visit of Sir Michael Tippett on his eightieth birthday and a series of concerts with John Shirley Quirk. Orchestras which Harry Lyth has conducted include The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (associate conductor for Kagel's Die Erschöpfung der Welt), The Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI di Milano, The Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali, The Potsdamer Philharmonie, The Michael Nyman Band, The Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon, The Polish Kammerphilharmonie (with Sabine Meyer), The Symphony Orchestra Stettin the Dohnányi symphony Orchestra Budapest, the Municipal Symphony Orchestra São Paolo and the Orquestra Brasileira Rio de Janeiro.

In Berlin Lyth has conducted numerous productions for the Berliner Kammeroper and in 1992 conducted a much acclaimed production of Ariadne auf Naxos (Budapest). He was founder and artistic director of two significant Music Festivals, one devoted to the Life and Music of Michael Tippett (1995) and one featuring the Film Composer Michael Nyman (2000). In both cases the composers attended in person. Subsequently that year he was invited by Michael Nyman to conduct the world première of his opera Facing Goya at the International Arts Festival in Santiago de Compostela in the year 2000, when that city was Cultural Capital of Europe.

In 2006 he was invited to open the Mozart celebrations at the new Palace of Arts Budapest conducting a performance of Thamos von Ägypten and in 2007 he will return to Hungary to conduct the concluding concert at the International Music Festival in Nyírbátor.