Rory Macdonald

Born in Stirling, conductor Rory Macdonald is a dynamic presence in both the concert hall and opera house, leading a notably wide repertoire from Dowland to MacMillan.

In the last few seasons he has returned regularly to the Philharmonia Orchestra (including opening their season with concerts across Scotland in Autumn 2025), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Tokyo City Philharmonic, as well as making debuts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. Other recent engagements include the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; London, Bergen, Oslo, Netherlands, Essen, Nagoya and Kanagawa Philharmonics, BBC Scottish Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony as well as several major orchestras in the USA. A strong advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered works by Sally Beamish, Sir James MacMillan, Geoffrey Gordon and Carl Vine

Recent highlights in the opera house include opening the 2025 Glyndebourne Festival with Il Barbiere di Siviglia, following his successful performances of La Bohème there in 2022. Other recent work in the opera house has included returns to Oper Frankfurt (Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Ariadne auf Naxos, The Magic Flute) as well as debuts at the Brisbane Festival (Peter Grimes) and Adelaide Festival. He has conducted new productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Danish Opera, Opera di Roma, Vienna Konzerthaus, Gothenburg Opera, Opera Australia and the Wexford Festival amongst others.

His discography includes Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy with Nicola Benedetti (Decca) and recordings for Hyperion, Chandos and Linn. A graduate of Cambridge University, Rory studied with David Zinman and Jorma Panula in Aspen, later assisting Iván Fischer, Sir Mark Elder and Sir Antonio Pappano.

Says Rory,

“I am thrilled to be conducting the upcoming ‘A Night at the Opera’ concert! Originally from Scotland, I have been living between Bath and Chippenham for some years now and have been enjoying visiting Southampton regularly as Lecturer in Conducting at the University since 2024.

I have dedicated a huge amount of time to conducting opera — I started as an assistant to Antonio Pappano and Mark Elder at the Royal Opera House, and my career has taken me to opera houses around the world, most recently the Glyndebourne Festival where I conducted ‘The Barber of Seville’ last summer. It will be lovely to work with such a renowned choir on some very exciting repertoire and I’m hugely looking forward to it.”