"… a conspicuously attentive and adept young conductor …"
The Herald

"… Conductor Michael Bawtree pulled all the intricate threads of this complex work together with consummate skill. This was a compelling and emotive performance …" The Scotsman

Michael Bawtree is Chorus Director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and Music Director of both the Glasgow Chamber Choir and RSAMD Chamber Choir. Michael has conducted the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and has worked with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra education department. He was assistant conductor for Scottish Ballet's 2007 production of Cinderella and returned to the company for their 2008 productions of Sleeping Beauty, conducting six performances, and Romeo and Juliet. He has also worked with the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, the Bury St Edmunds Festival Chorus, the Britten-Pears Chamber Choir and is in demand as a guest conductor of choirs throughout Scotland.

Michael was born in Devon and studied music at Cambridge University. He moved to Scotland in 2004 to take up a two-year postgraduate conducting scholarship at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Alongside his studies with Dr Alasdair Mitchell at the RSAMD, he worked with Joseph Swensen, Christopher Adey, Lutz Köhler, Martyn Brabbins and Ilan Volkov. In July 2006 he was awarded his Master of Music degree with distinction.

Increasingly involved in opera, Michael has worked on productions of Verdi's Falstaff, Massenet's Cendrillon and Flight by Jonathan Dove. In May 2006 he premiered Gareth Williams' one-act opera, Love in the Blue Corner, receiving a five-star review from The Herald. In February 2007 he conducted Albert Herring for Edinburgh Studio Opera. In July 2008, he will work on productions of Tosca and Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Lyrique-en-mer Festival in France. He was the recipient of the Wagner Society of Scotland's annual scholarship which allowed him to attend performances at the 2006 Bayreuth Festival.

Future engagements include a return to Scottish Ballet for Sleeping Beauty in 2009 and a 150th anniversary concert with ERCU and the BBC SSO at Edinburgh's Usher Hall. For further information please see www.michaelbawtree.co.uk