About Hilary Davan Wetton
Hilary Davan Wetton is one of Britain's most versatile and distinguished conductors. He was Principal Conductor of the Milton Keynes City Orchestra from 1975 to 2007; from 1989 to 1996 he was also Principal Conductor of the Wren Orchestra of London. He is Musical Director of three major choirs: the City of London Choir, the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and the Surrey Festival Choir. He was Founder-Conductor of the Holst Singers, and directed them from 1978 to 1992. With them he made a number of recordings of music by Holst, Bliss and Britten which have all been listed in the Penguin Guide. He has also made several outstanding recordings for Hyperion and Naxos with the Guildford Choir and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1994 his disc of Holst's Choral Symphony was awarded the Diapason d'Or. The latest disc (Vaughan Williams' Hodie) was released in October 2007. The City of London Choir has a major annual series in London's St John's Smith Square and also appears regularly at the Barbican Hall, as well as in major venues outside London.
Hilary appears frequently as a guest conductor with choirs and orchestras both in Britain and overseas. 2009 concerts include performances with the RPO in London and Dorking, with the Hanover Band in London and with the London Mozart Players in the Norwich Festival and Wellington Artsfest. He made his debut in Seattle with the Bremerton Orchestra and Chorus in Brahms Requiem in May 2009.
Hilary performs regularly on Radio 3; he has given many premieres both with the BBC Concert Orchestra and with the Ulster Orchestra. Between 1986 and 1989 he conducted a series of first broadcasts of 19th century British symphonies (by Cipriani Potter, Sterndale Bennett, William Crotch and Samuel Wesley) with the Ulster Orchestra. Subsequently he recorded much of this repertoire with the Milton Keynes Orchestra for Unicorn-Kanchana; the MKCO has also recorded for Hyperion, (Symphonies by Joachim Raff). In 1988 he made a series of recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Collins Classics. One of these (Holst's Planets) was the recommended version in the Penguin CD Guide. Another, (Mozart's Jupiter Symphony) was re-issued at mid price to considerable critical acclaim.
In the opera pit Hilary has appeared on a number of occasions with Travelling Opera, for whom he has conducted Cosi Fan Tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen and The Barber of Seville. In 1991 he conducted for the French company Ballet du Nord, the first ever danced version of Mozart's Requiem in a double bill with Stravinsky's Apollo at London's Sadlers Wells Theatre.
Recent engagements abroad have included Bulgaria, Iceland, Norway, and Australia. In 1995 he made a twelve day tour to the United States with the Milton Keynes Orchestra, culminating in two concerts in New York's Carnegie and Town Halls to capacity audiences.
He has a long-standing commitment to music-making with young people: from 1983 to 1987 he was conductor of the Orchestra of the Birmingham Conservatoire and he has worked with Youth Orchestras as far afield as Melbourne and Singapore. He was conductor of the Scottish Schools Orchestra from 1984-1995 and of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra from 1994-1997, with whom he toured Scandinavia in 1996 and made a live broadcast on Danish Radio. On his return from this tour he made his debut with the National Children's Orchestra and was invited to return to them in 1998 for concerts in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and for their Millennium celebration concerts in 2000. He has since appeared with them regularly and conducted all their concerts in 2008 for their 30th Anniversary Season.
He has been awarded honorary degrees by the Open University (MA) and de Montfort University (DMus).