Live Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony Fri 24 – Sat 25 October

German conductor David Niemann is establishing himself as one of the most gifted conductors of his generation. Second prize winner of the 2015 Malko Conducting Competition, in February 2015 he was appointed Assistant Conductor at the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, where he worked alongside chief conductor Michael Schønwandt for the following three seasons. He is developing a broad mainstream repertoire and is equally a persuasive advocate of twentieth century and contemporary repertoire.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include his Berliner Philharmonie debut with Ensemble Modern, as part of the Berlin Musikfest, alongside returns to the Orchestre de Picardie and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Recent projects with the RSNO have included conducing the finals of the Scottish International Piano Competition and their New Year regional tour. Other highlights include a full staging of the Mozart Requiem at Malmö Opera, with dancers from the Skånes Dansteater and choreography by Örjan Andersson, a revival of Elena Kats-Chernin’s Der herzlose Riese with Luxembourg Philharmonic, a return to Kammerakademie Potsdam and debut with Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen.

Further highlights have included successful debuts with Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Aalborg Symfoniorkester, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de Belgique and Ensemble Modern (Hamburg Elbphilharmonie); the world premiere of Elena Kats-Chernin’s new opera Der herzlose Riese with Luxembourg Philharmonic; a special interdisciplinary project with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie featuring new commissions with the most renowned artists of the German-speaking poetry slam scene; Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, paired with Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, to open the Barcelona concert season of the Valles Symphony in the iconic Palau de la Musica. Engagements have also included a series of projects with Qatar Philharmonic, a number of visits to Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Luxembourg Philharmonic; many main season and regional concerts with the Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier and concerts with Opéra National de Lorraine and Orchestre Lyrique Région Avignon Provence.

Earlier seasons featured Residentie Orkest, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre National de Lille, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and Hamburger Symphoniker. His many projects for Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier included notable staged productions of Schumann’s Manfred, a double bill of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges and Szymon Laks’ L’Hirondelle inattendue and La Boîte à joujoux – Debussy’s ballet for children. While in Montpellier he conducted many orchestral programmes featuring core symphonic repertoire such as Dvorak Symphony No. 9, Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven.

In 2013 he assisted Emmanuel Krivine in a production of Schumann’s Manfred at the Opéra Comique (Paris). While still a student he conducted Così fan tutte and Die Fledermaus at the Academy of Music, Leipzig, and Christian Jost’s The Arabian Night at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

Initially a passionate violinist, David commenced his conducting studies in 2007 as a pre-student at the Folkwang University of his hometown of Essen with David de Villiers and continued his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Leif Segerstam, at the Dutch National Masters of Conducting programme with Ed Spanjaard and Jac van Steen, in addition to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with Ulrich Windfuhr and holds a Master’s degree from those last two institutions.

Paul was born in London. It was as a singer that his musical abilities were first noticed, and on the advice of his preparatory school music teacher, he auditioned for the Purcell School, a specialist music school, where, over the course of seven years, he studied piano, violin, clarinet and, albeit briefly, trumpet and trombone. At the age of 15, having never really settled with any of these instruments, he took up timpani and percussion and has never looked back.

He continued his studies at Trinity College of Music, London. Whilst still a student, Paul became the Timpani and Percussion tutor at Dulwich College Preparatory School, and the Benenden School for Girls (both in Kent). He took a one- year sabbatical from his studies, and teaching responsibilities to become President of Trinity College of Music Students’ Union. Having completed his postgraduate studies he began working as a freelance musician in the UK and abroad.Over the years he has performed with many professional orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, BBC Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, the CBSO, the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Qatar Philharmonic and Auckland Philharmonia, to name but a few.

Music has taken him to the USA, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Norway, Bulgaria and New Zealand before he accepted the position as founding Section Principal Timpani with the then newly formed Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) in Kuala Lumpur. During his time in Malaysia, and in addition to his duties as a performer, Paul maintained a close association with the Education and Outreach department of the MPO, delivering individual lessons, coaching the Youth Orchestra, and undertaking masterclasses, & workshops. He toured Singapore, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia, Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia with the orchestra, and has collaborated with the celebrated Malaysian ensembles “HANDS Percussion”, and “Rhythm in Bronze” on multiple occasions.

Since his departure from the MPO in 2012, Paul has continued to perform and educate in both Asia, and Europe and also toured the USA and South America with the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In 2015 he became the founding Principal Timpanist of the Chineke! Orchestra (the very first majority Ethnically Diverse ensemble to be established within Europe). He also took up the chair as Principal Timpanist with the Orchestra of Opera North UK, and, most notably, performed Wagner’s mammoth Ring Cycle six times, in completion, during the spring and summer of 2016.

Having served with Opera North for almost three years, Paul moved to Glasgow, and became the Section Principal Timpanist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (serving as a Player-Director between 2020 & 2023). He is also a timpani tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the “Association of British Orchestras” (ABO) and “Sistema Scotland”. In addition, Paul sits on the advisory Board for “Direct Mediation Services” (DMS) and “The Culture Exchange”. During 2020 Paul hosted a number of radio programmes for Scala Radio, including a series of special daily features for the complete duration of Black History Month. His role as Principal Timpanist with the Chineke! Orchestra continues.

Paul was awarded an MBE for services to music in H.M. the Queen’s birthday Honours List that was published on 10th October 2020.

See Paul Philbert perform Matthew Rooke’s Tamboo Bamboo with the RSNO on 24 & 25 October 2025.