Biography —

Paul Goodwin is renowned for his historically informed interpretations of music of all periods, his wide repertoire and his interest in contemporary music. He has a great passion for incorporating period style within the traditional orchestral world and creating unusual and dynamic programs where he juxtaposes old and new compositions.

He has held positions including Artistic Director of the Carmel Bach Festival in California, Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music and is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of Capella Aquileia and Director of Historical Performance at Madrid’s Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia.

As an internally-known conductor due to his wide and varied symphonic repertoire, Paul Goodwin has conducted world-class ensembles such as the BBC Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra within in the UK; the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, within the United States; and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks within Europe. While he was guest conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra he also collaborated with soloists Kiri Te Kanawa, Joshua Bell, Maria João Pires, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In opera, Paul’s successes have included Cosi fan Tutte at the Royal Danish Opera, Copenhagen, Gluck Iphigenie en Tauride at the Komische Oper Berlin, Britten Rape of Lucretia at the Teatro Real Madrid, Handel’s Jeptha at Welsh National Opera and Orlando at both Scottish Opera and Opera Australia. In Carmel USA he has conducted Mozart’s Idomeneo, Magic Flute, Cosi fan Tutti, Purcell Dido and Aeneas, Stravinsky The Rake’s Progress and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.

As an award-winning recording artist, Paul’s albums with The Academy of Ancient Music and Harmonia Mundi Records have been nominated for a Gramophone award for the 1998 release of Mozart’s Zaïde and have also received two Grammy nominations for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for albums Taverner: Eternity’s Sunrise (1999) and Taverner: Total Eclipse & Agraphon (2005). Further recordings include Harmonia Mundi’s release of Elgar: Nursery Suite with the English Chamber Orchestra and two Sony discs including a collaboration of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf paired with Paddington Bear. In addition, he has also recorded CDs of Richard Strauss and Amadeus Hartmann with the SWR Orchestra and Handel operas Lotario, Riccardo Primo and Athalia with the Basel Chamber Orchestra for Harmonía Mundi.

In 2007, Paul Goodwin was awarded the Handel Honorary Prize of the City of Halle (Saale) in recognition of his extraordinary services to performances of works by George Frederic Handel. In 2021, a Music Fellowship was set up in honour of Paul Goodwin’s 11 years tenure at the Carmel Bach Festival, in collaboration with CSUMB (California State University Monterey Bay).

In the 2024 – 25 season Paul is conducting the Polish National Philharmonic (Mendelssohn Lobgesang and Whitacre “Cloud Burst”), Krakow Philharmonic (Skrowaczewski, Szymanowski and Stravinsky complete Firebird), the Warsaw Chamber Opera in a 1760’s program of CPE Bach, Rameau, Mozart and Haydn, the Mexico National Symphony in Rameau, Ravel and Beethoven, Handel’s Solomon with Capella Cracoviensis in Krakow, the Graz Styriate Festival Orchestra – Recreation – in Austria, the Rheinische Philharmonic in Beethoven, Mozart and Mendelssohn, George Enescu’s oratorio “Vox Maris” in Bucharest Romania,  Handel’s opera Alcina in Mainz, the National Youth Orchestra of Israel in Elgar Enigma Variations and Mozart, the Reina Sofia Camerata in Madrid and a baroque program with the Valencia Chamber Orchestra also in Spain.

For full biography please visit paulgoodwinconductor.com