He is a pianist, conductor, arranger and composer born in England. He studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and began his career as an opera repetiteur and also became Head of Music Staff for the European Opera Centre and a guest coach at the Opera de la Monnaie in Brussels, Belgium. As a pianist he has given many performances as part of an ensemble as well as recitals as a soloist in countries that include The Netherlands and Portugal. He has played as a member of the Kammerspiel Piano trio in several venues in England and Ireland and regularly plays at the Castle Hedingham Festival. He began conducting West End shows such as Barnum and Phantom and the Opera and followed this by giving concerts and recording with many artists and orchestras that include Jose Carreras, Lesley Garrett, Sarah Brightman, Bryn Terfel, Jessye Norman, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Vienna, Malmo, Munich, Seville, Dallas, Tokyo, Pacific and London Symphonies, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Royal and Royal Liverpool Philharmonics . As a recording artist he is also known for leading the City of Prague Philharmonic in over 30 album releases. He was also known from 2000-2003 for conducting the Nobel Peace Prize Concert where he worked with A-Ha, Willie Nelson, Santana, Moby and arranged "Let It Be" for Sir Paul McCartney . In 2005 he recorded the Royal Philharmonic 's Filmharmonic album and conducted the Filmharmonic concert. His busy conducting schedule has kept him going through 2006 and 2007 leading orchestras for Sarah Brightman, the Olivier Awards Ceremony, further concerts with the Royal Philharmonic and the Orquestra Sinfonica de le Coruna, and the world premiere of the Four Seasons of Woman which he had orchestrated in 2004. As an arranger he has made arrangements for many artists including Lesley Garrett, Sir Paul McCartney , Sarah Brightman and The Three Tenors and many Christmas pieces. As a composer he has several many works, mostly with a religious theme, such as "Rock Mass", "Bethlehem Blues", and several hymns for the hymnbook "Rejoice and Sing". The piano that he performs on is one that used to reside in a recording studio, where Freddie Mercury played it on his last album release.

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra recordings

Paul Anka

Silva STD 5023 (CD: Cinema Century 2000)

Conductor - Paul Bateman

Sources: