A native of Glasgow, Stewart Robertson is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. He studied piano with Denis Matthews, conducting with Otmar Suitner at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. He gained his early experience in opera and ballet at the opera houses of Cologne and Zurich and at Scottish Opera, where he was Music Director of the touring company. Subsequently he became Music Director of the San Bernardino Symphony and the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, where he was a champion of new music and a frequent broadcaster on National Public Radio. His international career has brought engagements throughout the world in concert-halls and opera houses, with performances that demonstrate his wide range of musical interests. In addition to his position as Music Director and Principal Conductor of Florida Grand Opera, he is Music Director of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Artistic Director of Opera Omaha, and has been named Music Director Emeritus of Glimmerglass Opera.

A musician of great versatility, the English composer Richard Rodney Bennett studied in London with Lennox Berkeley and Howard Ferguson, and subsequently with Pierre Boulez. In addition to his very varied work as a composer, he is also known as a pianist, not least in jazz performances. He was made a CBE in 1977 and knighted in 1999.

Operas, Ballet and Film Music

Bennett’s operas date from the 1960s and include the powerful The Mines of Sulphur as well as Victory, based on Conrad. His ballet score Isadora was written in 1980. His film music includes scores for Far from the Madding Crowd, Murder on the Orient Express and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Orchestral and Chamber Music

Bennett wrote concertos for a number of different instruments, including two piano concertos and concertos for violin, viola, oboe, saxophone, double bass, horn and bassoon. There is a similarly wide range of scoring in his chamber music, which includes a Guitar Concerto and a Sonatina for the same instrument.