Bristol Bach Choir

A Profile of the Bristol Bach Choir Conductor

Gavin Carr was born in London and studied music and art history at King’s College, Cambridge, where he was a Choral Scholar in the celebrated Chapel Choir. He then emigrated for five years to Australia, where he began his singing career working with leading ensembles including the Victoria State Opera and Elision Ensemble, and explored a vast repertoire ranging from the fourteenth century canzonas to a number of world-premieres. Returning to Europe via study in the US, Gavin Carr made his debut at the Händel Festspiele in Halle as Manoah in Samson, and for the next ten years it was as a baritone that he made his name, appearing at many festivals and with major orchestras and choruses worldwide in concert and recital, recording for BBC and German radio, and making his debut with English National Opera as Aeneas Dido and Aeneas and St Ignatius Four Saints in Three Acts, going on to appear there as Figaro Barber of Seville with Lesley Garrett.

Numerous opera appearances with companies in the UK (Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera Project, Pimlico Opera), France, Ireland, Australia and Italy added to his growing reputation, but in 2003 Mr Carr sought to capitalize on this experience in exploring the role of conductor, and to that end he accepted the post of Music Director of The Athenaeum Singers in Warminster, swiftly following this with Assistant Conductor at the Wexford Festival and at the Cantiere d’Arte di Montepulciano. At Wexford he was subsequently appointed Chorus Master in 2006 to develop a new Irish-based chorus, and he returned there in 2007 to make his operatic conducting debut with the Peter Brook version of Bizet’s La Tragédie de Carmen, which was nominated for ‘Best Opera Production of 2007’ in the Irish Times National Arts Awards. An affiliation with the leading regional professional orchestra The Bath Philharmonia began in 2006 when he was appointed Associate Principal Conductor after a period as assistant, and concerts in 2008/9 include Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.

In April 2007 Gavin made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducting an all-star cast including Emma Kirkby, Sarah Connolly and James Gilchrist in the St Matthew Passion in Bath Abbey. This event saw the inauguration of a new professional choir, Chorus Angelorum, which Gavin has formed to take advantage of the wealth of expert choral talent in the South West region. In June 2007 Chorus Angelorum made a warmly-received debut in Italy singing Messiaen’s Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine with Jan Latham-Koenig and the orchestra of the Teatro Regio at the Turin Opera House. In August, Gavin Carr returned to Italy with Chorus Angelorum for performances of Carmina Burana and Verdi Opera Choruses at the Festivals in Naples, Montepulciano, Bologna and Llubljana. Future projects for Chorus Angelorum include a Christmas tour with Bath Philharmonia of Messiah, and the commercial recording in March 2009 of Paul Carr’s Requiem for an Angel with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Gavin’s baton, for release on the Dutton label.

In January 2008, Gavin Carr took up the Music Directorship of the Bath Minerva Choir, one of Bath’s largest performing ensembles; together with The Athenaeum Singers they will present a large-scale fundraising performance of Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony for the RNLI at Wells Cathedral with soloists Amanda Roocroft and William Dazeley in July 2009. In 2009, Gavin will be reprising his role as Chorus Master of the Frome Festival Chorus, a weekend choral course based in the South West that is gaining recognition for its relaxed but absorbing events that in 2008 culminated in a performance of Bach’s B Minor Mass in Wells Cathedral, and next year will feature a tour to China of The Dream of Gerontius.

In between conducting engagements, Gavin still finds time for singing – Messiah in Westminster Abbey, recitals in Bath and at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, appearances with the CBSO and Dawn Upshaw at Birmingham Symphony Hall and the Barbican in Golijov’s Grammy Award-winning opera Ainadamar, and Britten’s War Requiem at the opera house in Santiago, Chile, number amongst recent and upcoming performances.