Martin Yates (born 1 July 1958, London) is a British conductor. After attending

Kimbolton School Kimbolton School is a British HMC co-educational independent day and boarding school in the rural village of Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire, England. There are 1000 students, aged 4 to 18. Boarding and flexi-boarding is available to a limited ...

(1969–1974), he studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

and

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducting),

Richard Arnell Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell (15 September 191710 April 2009) was an English composer of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies (a seventh w ...

(composition), Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky and

Alan Rowlands Alan Rowlands (1 March 1929 – 2 January 2012) was an English pianist (though born in Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and ...

(piano), and Douglas Moore and John Burden (French horn).

Conductor

He made his conducting debut in 1983 with Israel National Opera in ''Carmen'', and appeared with them as guest conductor for two seasons, where he conducted ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dr ...

'', ''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John L ...

'', ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuse ...

'' and ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on '' La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his o ...

''. He came to UK notice making his Edinburgh Festival debut in 1988 with

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

's '' On The Town'', and thereafter conducted several major London musicals, including ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (Her Majesty's Theatre), ''Miss Saigon'' (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), ''Carousel ''(Shaftesbury Theatre) and ''Sunset Boulevard'' (Adelphi Theatre). In 1995 he crossed back to mainstream classical music and has since appeared regularly at several major opera houses including Paris, Vienna, Dresden, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Rome, Tokyo and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He conducts many major symphony orchestras, including the Staatskapelle Dresden, Gothenburg Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a regular conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra (conducting the Proms in the Park in London for three years running) and has made notable recordings of composer

's work as well as recordings by other neglected British composers. For three years running he conducted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, and he regularly conducts the Royal Ballet, both at Covent Garden and on their international tours. From 1994 to 1999, he was the principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in London and since 2010 he has been the principal conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Cambridge University Music Society. Martin Yates has made over 100 recordings, including (for Dutton Epoch) the world premier recordings of the complete symphonies, ballets and concertos of

, John Joubert's Symphony 2; Symphonies 3 & 4, Sinfonietta 1 & Piano Concerto 2 by

Stanley Bate Stanley Bate (12 December 1911 – 19 October 1959) was an English composer and pianist. Life Bate was born in Milehouse, Devonshire, a suburb of Plymouth, and received his first musical education from local teachers. He took to the piano earl ...

Thomas Dunhill Thomas Frederick Dunhill (1 February 187713 March 1946) was a prolific English composer in many genres, though he is best known today for his light music and educational piano works. His compositions include much chamber music, a song cycle, '' ...

(Symphony in A),

Erik Chisholm Erik William Chisholm (4 January 1904 – 8 June 1965) was a Scottish composer, pianist, organist and conductor sometimes known as "Scotland's forgotten composer". According to his biographer, Chisholm "was the first composer to absorb Celtic i ...

(Symphony No. 2),

Peter Crossley-Holland Peter Crossley-Holland (born 28 January 1916, London; died 27 April 2001, London) was a composer and ethnomusicologist. He wrote several books on the music of Tibetan Buddhism and composed music in ethnic styles including Celtic. Early life an ...

(Symphony in D), String Orchestra music by

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

Stephen Dodgson Stephen Cuthbert Vivian Dodgson (17 March 192413 April 2013) was a British composer and broadcaster. Dodgson's prolific musical output covered most genres, ranging from opera and large-scale orchestral music to chamber and instrumental music, as ...

and

, Orchestral Songs by

John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in ''All the King's Men'' (1949), making him the first Vancouver-born actor to receive an Oscar nomina ...

and others, also Piano Concertos (with pianist

Victor Sangiorgio Victor Sangiorgio is an Australian classical pianist. He was born in Italy, grew up and trained in Australia, resides in London and performs internationally. Biography Victor Sangiorgio was born in Italy but his family moved to Australia when he ...

) by

Benjamin Godard Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (18 August 184910 January 1895) was a French violinist and Romantic-era composer of Jewish extraction, best known for his opera ''Jocelyn''. Godard composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin concer ...

and

Franz Reizenstein Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he succ ...

and with pianist Peter Donohoe piano concertos by

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an England, English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music a ...

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prol ...

and

Cyril Scott Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...

and with pianist Martin Roscoe the complete piano and orchestra works by

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of the ...

. He has conducted several recordings of music by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

including Symphony 5, Concerto for Two Pianos, premier recordings of Serenade for small orchestra, Bucolic Suite, The Blue Bird & The Fat Knight, the entire score of Scott of the Antarctic and the first modern recording of

A London Symphony ''A London Symphony'' is the second symphony composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The work is sometimes referred to as Symphony No. 2, though the composer did not designate that name for the work. First performed in 1914, the original score of ...

in its second version (1920). During the 1990s he made many recordings of complete musicals for TER, including ''Brigadoon'', ''The Phantom of the Opera'', ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''Sweet Charity'', ''Stop the World I Want to Get Off'', ''The Fantasticks'' and ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers''. He conducted the highly regarded Royal National Theatre production of ''Carousel ''in London's west end and made the London cast recording.

Composer

As a composer his music for flute and piano has been recorded by flautist Anna Noakes. His

flute sonata A flute sonata is a sonata usually for flute and piano, though occasionally other accompanying instruments may be used. Flute sonatas in the Baroque period were very often accompanied in the form of basso continuo. List of flute sonatas *George ...

is subtitled ''Fire Island'', but this is to be taken metaphysically and is not a reference to the

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a U.S. state, state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the List of U.S. ...

island. In 2015, he was commissioned by the Royal Ballet to write the score for Elizabeth, a ballet by

Will Tuckett Will Tuckett (born 1969) is an English director and choreographer, who has created works for many international companies including the Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, and English National Ballet. Early life Tuckett was born in B ...

to a text by

Alasdair Middleton Alasdair Middleton is a leading British opera librettist and playwright with librettos commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Opera North and the Berlin Philharmonic among others. He is responsible for a series of important operatic collaborations w ...

. He wrote a musical with Dudley Stevens (''The Soap Opera'', 1986), seen briefly at the Piccadilly Theatre, London and another musical with Steve Devereaux (''Wuthering Heights'').

Orchestrator

In 2010, he completed and orchestrated

Ernest John Moeran } Ernest John Smeed Moeran (31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer of part-Irish extraction, whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes or ...

's Symphony No.2 (from sketches), which he recorded with the RSNO on Dutton Epoch in 2011. This recording was awarded Recording of the Year by Musicweb International. The first public performance of the Symphony was given by Yates and the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale symp ...

at the

English Music Festival The English Music Festival (also known as EMF) is an annual four-day event held over the second May bank holiday, dedicated to the performance of British composers from the mediaeval to the present day with a strong focus on the early to mid twe ...

in June 2012. A subsequent performance took place with Yates conducting the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra in December 2012. Yates completed

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's ''Pageant of Empire'', recorded by Yates conducting baritone

Roderick Williams Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE (born 1965) is a British baritone and composer. Biography Williams was born in North London to a Welsh father and a Jamaican mother. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and Haberdashers' ...

, and realised and completed

's Symphony No.7 (Mandela), recorded by Yates and the RSNO. His orchestration of ''Sarnia – an Island Sequence for Orchestra'' by

has recently been recorded by the RSNO and released on Dutton Epoch. In 2015, he completed and orchestrated ''Fantasia for Orchestra'', the unfinished work by

George Butterworth George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) was an English composer who was best known for the orchestral idyll '' The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from ''A Shropshire Lad''. Earl ...

and gave the world premier with the

at the 2015

. His subsequent completions and orchestrations include

The Fat Knight, The Blue Bird, Christmas Overture and the Little March Suite and

The Spanish Lady Symphonic Suite. His orchestration for the

Kenneth MacMillan Sir Kenneth MacMillan (11 December 192929 October 1992) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer who was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977, and its principal choreographer from 1977 until his death. Ea ...

Ballet

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was fi ...

was made for the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

in 2011 and is now used throughout the world and his orchestration of the

Carlos Acosta Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada (born 2 June 1973) is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of C ...

Ballet ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'' was made for the

and premiered in September 2013. In 2015, he orchestrated and arranged two ballet versions of

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

; one in three acts for

Liam Scarlett Liam Scarlett (8 April 198616 April 2021) was a British choreographer who was an artist in residence with The Royal Ballet and artistic associate with Queensland Ballet. He also choreographed new works for Ballet Black, Miami City Ballet, N ...

for Norwegian National Ballet and one in one act for

for the Royal Ballet. For

he has also arranged and orchestrated '' The Queen of Spades'' (

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

) for the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when th ...

in 2018 and

Dangerous Liaisons ''Dangerous Liaisons'' is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play ''Les liaisons dangereuses'', itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the s ...

( Saint-Saens) for the

Queensland Ballet The Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner OBE, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia and is based in Brisbane. Queensland Ballet is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australi ...

in 2019. In 2012, he completed the early Piano Concerto and completed and revised the early Cello Concerto both by

. He recorded these for Dutton Epoch with Peter Donohoe (piano) and

Raphael Wallfisch Raphael Wallfisch (born 15 June 1953 in London) is a British cellist and professor of cello. As a soloist he performs regularly with leading orchestras around the world, as well as together with duo partner John York (piano), or as member of the ...

(cello) with the BBC.

References

External links

Martin Yates artist management

Martin Yates Scandinavian management

Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Martin British male conductors (music) 1958 births Living people People educated at Kimbolton School Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of Trinity College of Music British composers Musicians from London Musicians from Cambridgeshire 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians