Born in London in 1973, William Lacey has already conducted over twenty operas. Despite beginning his musical studies at the relatively late age of fourteen, he made his début at English National Opera at 24 and shortly thereafter became San Francisco Opera’s youngest ever mainstage conductor. Recent successes include Fidelio (with Graham Vick and the Birmingham Opera Company, broadcast live on BBC TV and winner of the South Bank Show Award for Opera, 2003) and a highly acclaimed new production of The Magic Flute at Opera North. 2003 saw an expansion of his activities on the concert platform, including his débuts with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Bretagne, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In 2004 he made highly successful débuts at the Cologne Opera with Handel’s Serse and Glimmerglass Opera, in the United States with the same composer’s Imeneo. William Lacey studied at King’s College, Cambridge, and in Venice and Salzburg. As a pianist and chamber musician, he was fortunate enough to study extensively with György Kurtag and Alfred Brendel, who have been his most influential teachers. He started his conducting career at Almeida Opera, and as an assistant conductor in London, Aldeburgh, Munich and Pesaro. With cellist Adrian Brendel he co-founded Music at Plush, where in 2003 and 2004 they have continued a Bach cantatas project. In 1998 his first commercial recording, Alexander Goehr’s Arianna, was released and he conducted The Tales of Hoffmann at the English National Opera. He has also conducted the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra della Toscana, the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, the Marin Symphony Orchestra, the Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, and the Tyrol Festival Orchestra. Between 1998 and 2001, William Lacey was the Staff Conductor at San Francisco Opera, conducting a series of opera and collaborating with other leading conductors.