Rupert Burleigh

The British pianist and conductor Rupert Burleigh began his solo career in 1984 with his first radio broadcasts on BBC Radio London and a concert series with Live Music Now. Following his success at the Tokyo International Piano Competition in 1994, he was invited to make a concert tour of southern Japan.

He has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and song accompanist. His recent performances as a pianist have included the premiere of Ton de Leeuw’s Cinq Hymnes with the NDR Vocal Ensemble under the baton of Klaas Stok, which was performed in September 2025 in St Nicholas’s Church in Hamburg and broadcast by NDR.

As a conductor he specializes in contemporary music. He has worked with ensembles including the Arion Orchestra in London and the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne and in 2017 was on the music staff at Glyndebourne Festival. In November 2024 he conducted the world premiere of Clemens K. Thomas’s first opera Dollhouse at the opera stabile of the Hamburg State Opera.

Rupert Burleigh was a solo répétiteur with conducting duties at the Hessian State Theatre in Wiesbaden. From 2000 to 2010 he was head of music and director of the opera studio at the Cologne Opera and from 2010 to 2026 he was head of music at the Hamburg State Opera. Since 2026 he has been Director of Music Administration at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Rupert Burleigh was born in London and studied piano, conducting and musicology at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hamish Milne and Geoffrey Pratley, and from 1989 to 1994 at the University of Music and Theatre in Hanover in David Wilde’s solo class. Since 2014 he has been a lecturer at the University of Music and Drama in Hamburg.

In 2009 he featured in the German television series Die Theatermacher on the ZDF Theatre Channel.