Alistair Digges was born in Glasgow and began his musical
studies as a horn player and pianist. He studied at the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland before being awarded Mason and Ackroyd
scholarships to the Royal College of Music International Opera
School, where he went on to win their prestigious Knights of the
Round Table Prize.
He is co-founder and Musical Director of Scotland's
professional touring company Opera Bohemia, conducting productions
of Eugene Onegin, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi and The Pearl
Fishers. Other conducting engagements have included Gounod's La
Colombe for West Green House Opera, a co-production with Opera
Danube, and the closing concerts of the 2015 and 2016 Rainhill
Music Festivals. In addition to The Edinburgh Singers, he is also
Musical Director of Edinburgh's Songbirds and of Fife Opera, with
whom he's conducted Carmen, Faust, Eugene Onegin and The Magic
Flute. He was appointed Musical Director of Edinburgh Grand Opera
in 2017, conducting their recent production of The Pearl Fishers.
Forthcoming engagements in 2018 include assistant conductor to
David Parry for a production of Tosca at the Netherlands Reisopera,
as well as conducting Falstaff for Opera Bohemia and Cendrillon for
Fife Opera. He is on the musical staff of the National Youth Choirs
of Great Britain and the Ulster Youth Choirs and is in demand as an
adjudicator, guest conductor and workshop leader across the UK.
Previous musical director positions held include the London
Fairlawn Singers and Kilmarnock and District Choral
Union.
Before pursuing his conducting career, Alistair performed
extensively as an operatic tenor and concert soloist throughout
Europe and beyond. Engagements included a series of recitals across
India with renowned soprano Patricia Rozario, the title role in the
premier of Sir Nigel of Tilford under the baton of Laurence
Cummings, Rodolfo for Vignette Production's acclaimed tour of La
Bohème in England and France, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore for
Opera South, Don Gomez in Die Drei Pintos at London's Bloomsbury
theatre, Dumain in Verlorene Liebesmüh for Opera da Camera Linz in
Austria, Alfredo in La Traviata for Go Opera at the London Olympic
site, Tamino in The Magic Flute for Dartington Opera, various roles
at London's Britten Theatre, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Edgardo
in Lucia di Lammermoor, and performances in Russia, Germany and at
the Buxton and Aldeburgh festivals of Britten's Parables for
Mahogany Opera Group and with Britten Sinfonia. He has performed
extensively as an oratorio and concert soloist throughout the UK
and France, singing in many of the country's leading concert halls
and cathedrals, and working under the likes of Philip Moore,
Stephen Cleobury, Jonathan Willcocks, James Grossmith, Ralph
Allwood, Alain Charron, Chris Gray and Dominic Peckham. His vast
repertoire includes Britten's Saint Nicolas, Verdi's Requiem,
Mendelsohn's Elijah, Puccini's Messe di Gloria, Rossini's Stabat
Mater and Pettite Messe Solenelle, as well as the masses and
oratorios of Handel, Bach, Haydn and Schubert. A keen exponent of
contemporary repertoire, he sang the lead role of John in Michael
Oliva's Singularity in London's From the Soundhouse series, Gareth
Wiliams's Breath Cycle for Scottish Opera, the Sloans Project for
Noise Opera and has also workshopped new repertoire with the
Mahogany Opera Group.
