David Agler Conductors
As a conductor, David Agler is both elegant and eloquent. As Artistic Director of The Wexford Festival, his passion and vision have reaffirmed Wexford’s position as one of Europe’s finest festivals, and the jewel in Ireland’s cultural crown. His future schedule includes performances of Mercadante’s Virginia at Wexford in October 2010, while further guest engagements include Eugene Onegin at Opera St Louis, as well as Pelléas et Mélisande and Mark Adamo’s Little Women at The Banff Summer Arts Festival.
As a conductor, David Agler is both elegant and eloquent. As Artistic Director of The Wexford Festival, his passion and vision have reaffirmed Wexford’s position as one of Europe’s finest festivals, and the jewel in Ireland’s cultural crown. His future schedule includes performances of Mercadante’s Virginia at Wexford in October 2010, while further guest engagements include Eugene Onegin at Opera St Louis, as well as Pelléas et Mélisande and Mark Adamo’s Little Women at The Banff Summer Arts Festival.
Born in Indiana, David Agler first came to the attention of an international public at Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Spoleto Festival in Italy, working closely with directors Luchino Visconti and Roman Polanski, and conductors Christopher Keene and Thomas Schippers on some of Spoleto’s landmark productions, including Manon Lescaut and Lulu. Mr. Agler was subsequently invited to the San Francisco Opera to help create the new San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and conducted several historic productions, including the American première of Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage, as well as new productions of Pique Dame, Death in Venice, and Elegy for Young Lovers.
As principal conductor of the Australian Opera, he conducted new productions of Un Ballo in Maschera, Carmen, Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and The Rake’s Progress, in addition to numerous revivals. He also headed the establishment of the Young Artist Centre at the Australian Opera. He has served as artistic director for Opera Festival of New Jersey, Music Director of Vancouver Opera, principal guest conductor of Oper der Stadt Köln, conductor and administrator of Spoleto Festival, and music director of Syracuse Opera.
Notable among his many guest engagements are appearances with the Wexford Festival Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Netherlands Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Theater of St. Louis, New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, and Opera Company of Philadelphia.
As a symphonic conductor, he has led concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, National Arts Centre (Ottawa) Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and San Francisco Chamber Symphony.
As music director in Vancouver, Mr. Agler earned special acclaim for productions of repertoire from the twentieth century, including Peter Grimes, The Makropolous Case, The Dialogues of the Carmelites, Jenufa, Bluebeard’s Castle, Erwartung and the Canadian première of Susannah. In November, 2003 he also conducted a newly-revised version of Ned Rorem’s opera Miss Julie, while more recent successes have included a hugely-successful production of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in Calgary and the U.S. première of a chamber orchestra version of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck.
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