Paul Daniel began his musical career as a chorister at Coventry Cathedral and then won a music scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, after which he studied conducting at the Guildhall School of Music. He went on to study with Franco Ferrara in Italy, and with Sir Adrian Boult and Sir Edward Downes in England. Between 1982 and 1987 he was a member of the music staff of English National Opera, becoming chief conductor in 1987 of the Music Factory, with which he had been associated since 1981. With this company he conducted operas by Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and György Ligeti. Alongside his work in the opera house, he conducted orchestras in the United Kingdom and abroad, making his American début in 1988 with the London Sinfonietta.