Bertie Baigent

Robert Edward Series Baigent is a British conductor, composer, and organist. He has been music director of Waterperry Opera Festival since 2017,[1] and was assistant conductor of the Colorado Symphony[2] and principal guest conductor of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra 2018–2020.[3] Previously he was conductor of the London Young Sinfonia,[4] organ scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge[5] and conductor of Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra.[6] Baigent is winner designate of the Interntational Conducting Competition Rotterdam,[7] and in 2022 will conduct the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Doelen Ensemble, and Sinfonia Rotterdam.

Baigent has won prizes in numerous composition competitions, including the Stainer and Bell Award for Choral Composition,[8][9] the BBC Inspire Competition 2013,[10] and the NCEM Young Composers Award.[11][12] His work Joie de Vivre was commissioned for and played at the unveiling of a plaque to mark the first performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the City of Westminster.[13][14][15][16] Baigent's compositions have been performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House under Antonio Pappano, the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon, the Bath Philharmonia and Fretwork.[6] In 2015 a recording of his organ work Bright spark, shot from a brighter place was released by the German CD label JUBAL.[17][18]

Bertie read music at Jesus College, Cambridge, and subsequently completed an MA at the Royal Academy of Music. His aunt is the mathematician Caroline Series, and his grandfather was the physicist George Series.