David Parry studied with Sergiu Celibidache and began his career as Sir John Pritchard’s assistant. He made his debut with English Music Theatre, then became a staff conductor at Städtische Bühnen, Dortmund and at Opera North. He was Music Director of Opera 80 from 1983 to 1987 and since 1992 has been the founding Music Director of Almeida Opera.
He works extensively in both opera and concert, nationally and internationally. He has conducted several productions at English National Opera and Opera North and appears regularly with the Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestras. In 1996 he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival conducting Così fan tutte, following it in 1998 with the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Flight.
He is a frequent visitor to Spain where he has given concerts with most of the major Spanish orchestras. He conducted the Spanish premiere of Peter Grimes in Madrid and in 1996 the first Spanish production of
The Rake’s Progress. He has appeared in Germany, Switzerland, and The Netherlands, at the Pesaro Festival in Italy, the Hong Kong International Festival, in Japan with a tour of Carmen, and in Mexico with the UNAM Symphony Orchestra. Recent new productions he has conducted include Fidelio at the New Zealand Festival, Lucia di Lammermoor at New Israeli Opera and Don Giovanni at Staatsoper Hannover.
His work in the recording studio includes the BBC Television production of Marschner’s Der Vampyr and twenty-eight complete opera recordings under the sponsorship of the Peter Moores Foundation. Among these are numerous discs for the Opera Rara label which have won several awards, including the Belgian Prix Cecilia for Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra. For Chandos he has conducted a series of recitals of operatic arias – with Sir Thomas Allen, Bruce Ford, Alan Opie, Diana Montague, Dennis O’Neill, Alastair Miles, Yvonne Kenny, John Tomlinson, Barry Banks, Della Jones and Andrew Shore – as well as The Flying Dutchman, The Marriage of Figaro, A Masked Ball, Idomeneo, Carmen, The Thieving Magpie, Don Giovanni, Don Pasquale, The Elixir of Love, Lucia of Lammermoor, Ernani, Il trovatore, Aida, Faust, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, La bohème, Turandot, the award-winning Tosca and highlights from Der Rosenkavalier, all in association with the Peter Moores Foundation.