Andrew Wise

Biography

The British pianist and conductor Andrew Wise studied music at Cambridge University and piano and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was repetiteur at the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam from 1983 and also coach at the Dutch opera studio. He made diverse appearances as lieder and opera accompanist on the Dutch and Belgian music scene. In 1989 Gerard Mortier invited him to the Monnaie in Brussels as opera coach, and one year later he became chorus master of the National Travelling Opera in Holland.

In 1994 Andrew Wise was invited by Marc Clémeur to take up the position of chorus master at the Royal Flemish Opera, where he remained until 1997. He has been chorus master of the Kongelige Opera in Copenhagen since 1998. As guest conductor he has conducted the Flemish Radio Choir, with whom he made recordings of his own choral works. The first performance of his cantata for children's chorus, "Liefde en Bloed KT", took place in April 2002, a commission by the Royal Flemish Opera. As chorus master he was responsible for the musical preparation of the Danish Radio Choir in numerous projects, including Verdi's Requiem with Christoph Eschenbach and Turandot with Giuseppe Sinopoli, the conductor's last recording before his sudden death in 2001. Andrew Wise was guest conductor of Tivoli's Concert Chorus and the Gothenburg opera chorus (Sweden). n 1990/2000 he was head conductor at the Hoofdstad Operette, Amsterdam. Since 2002 he has been the conductor of Kamerkoor Carmina (Copenhagen).