Douglas Boyd

Douglas Boyd will be the Musikkollegium Winterthur's next Principal Conductor from 2009/10. He will be Jac van Steen's successor, the Dutchman who used to be the Principal Conductor of this long-established Orchestra from 2002 till 2008.

Boyd was born in Glasgow (Scotland) and studied oboe as a pupil of Janet Craxton at the Royal Academy of Music in London (where he himself teaches today), and with Maurice Borgue in Paris. He co-founded the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and used to be its oboe soloist until recently.

At present, Boyd is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Manchester Camerata, Principal Guest Conductor of City of London Sinfonia, Co-Music Director of Gardner Chamber Orchestra, Boston and Artistic Partner of St Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota.

Douglas Boyd has been appointed to Winterthur for a period of four years. He will be responsible for the artistic development of the  Musikkollegium as well as for the organisation and conducting of approximately 15 concerts per season. In addition, tours and CD recordings are planned.

Co-founder of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Boyd belongs to the up-and-coming conductors of the younger generation. At present, he conducts the Manchester Camerata, developing a distinguished chamber orchestra concert and recording activity with it for the past seven years. In addition, Boyd has appeared as a guest conductor with renowned Orchestras , such as the BBC Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony, the Bournemouth Symphony and the English Chamber Orchestra.

Boyd gained first international recognition as  co-founder of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, serving as principle oboist since 2002 and frequently also as a conductor. The ensemble is one of the most renowned European chamber orchestras. It enjoys an excellent reputation due to its interpretations of works from all musical epochs. Conductors like Claudio Abbado and Nikolaus Harnoncourt intensively cooperate with the Orchestra supported by the European Union.

Strengthening the artistic profile
With Boyd, the Musikkollegium will be conducted by a chamber orchestra specialist. It will thus be able to strengthen its artistic profile in the coming years and increase its concert activities at home and abroad. Boyd was preceded by a number of great names: amongst others, Franz Welser-Möst (1987–1990), János Fürst (1990–1994) and Heinrich Schiff (1995–2001) used to be its Principal Conductors.

The history of the Musikkollegium Winterthur can be traced back to the 17th century, thus making it one of the oldest Orchestras in Europe. Given its size of 50 musicians, works of the classical period and early Romanticism as well as of the 20th century are at the focus of the Musikkollegium's repertoire. Musicians like Rudolf Buchbinder, Mikhail Pletnev, András Schiff  and Pinchas Zukerman appreciate the fact that they can perform the music of these particular epochs with the  Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur in a dual function, i.e. as a soloist and a conductor. Famous guest conductors included, amongst others, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Theodor Guschlbauer and Heinz Holliger.

Orchestra with 70 concerts per season
There are approximately 70 concerts per season with high-ranking, innovative programmes, ca. 40 of which take place in Winterthur in the framework of the Orchestra's own concert series at the Stadthaus, the recently restored stately building by Gottfried Semper (built between 1865–1869).