More about our Orchestrator

Michael Withers came into our lives when our conductor, Dan Rowntree, met him in England. Maestro Rowntree was looking for a reduction of Carmen for Westford Chorus and as it happened Michael had orchestrated the opera for chamber orchestra. That was our lucky day, because the orchestration was perfect and gave us the experience of singing with an orchestra rather than just piano. Michael's orchestration followed the original very closely and with only 14 players. (SHAMELESS PLUG: Michael's orchestrations may be rented, so contact us if you have interest.)

When we began thinking about Hansel & Gretel, we wrote to Michael. By coincidence Susan was going to be in England and she and Michael arranged to meet for tea. Michael graciously agreed to the commission of the orchestration for Hansel & Gretel. The photo of Susan and Michael commemorates that wonderful moment of agreement! (Susan and her husband were going to Glyndebourne that evening, thus the formal attire.)

Michael is truly a Renaissance man. He originally trained in chemistry at Imperial College, London, and has subsequently enjoyed a career in journalism and editorial work in the fields of science and medicine, but his main passion is making music. He trained privately in violin and clarinet, but his abiding interest from an early age has been conducting.

Opera is his first love, and he has conducted a wide repertoire, ranging from Purcell (King Arthur and Dido and Aeneas) to Britten (Rape of Lucretia). His interest in bringing new life to rarely performed works has led him to perform works such as Dvorak's The Devil and Kate and Holst's The Perfect Fool, and more recently, in Brighton, three neglected operas by Vaughan Williams Hugh the Drover, The Poisoned Kiss and The Pilgrim's Progress. Michael conducts regularly with the Brighton-based opera group, Heber Opera.

Michael started conducting regularly in 1975 when he was appointed conductor of Imperial College Operatic Society. He had already conducted several choirs and chamber groups and this appointment gave him the opportunity to work regularly with a very capable student group. Between 1975 and 1979 he conducted a wide range of performances including:
Utopia Ltd (Gilbert and Sullivan)
Orpheus in the Underworld (including translation of the lyrics)
Yeomen of the Guard
Pirates of Penzance
Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (Offenbach)
Venus and Adonis (John Blow)
Excerpts from The Tales of Hoffman
Gondoliers

In 1979 Michael left Imperial College Operatic Society and become one of the founder members of Imperial Opera. Imperial Opera drew on a wide range of soloists, and had a regular, very capable chorus. All performances were fully staged using full orchestras. Many of the soloists Michael worked with in Imperial Opera have made successful performing careers in music. The repertoire for Imperial Opera included
Robinson Crusoe (Offenbach)
La Belle Helene (Offenbach)
Acis and Galatea (Handel)
The Chaplet (Boyce)
The Perfect Fool (Holst)
The Wandering Scholar (Holst)
The Devil and Kate (Dvorak)
King Arthur (Purcell)

During this period Michael also worked with Betchworth Operatic and Dramatic Society in several G&S operettas, and some Christmas musicals. He also sang with and was assistant conductor of the Horniman Singers, a chamber choir specialising equally in the renaissance repertoire and contemporary music.

The relationship with Imperial Opera also led to some enterprising concerts conducted on behalf of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society. Michael conducted the first modern performances of several of Sullivan's serious compositions, including the oratorio The Martyr of Antioch, On Shore and Sea and incidental music to Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor and others.

Since moving to Brighton in 1989, Michael has been involved with a number of Sussex-based companies, including the Brighton-based Wandering Minstrels, Burgess Hill Operatic Society, and is the regular musical director of Heber Opera.

For Wandering Minstrels, Michael's repertoire has included
Patience
La Belle Helene
Pirates of Penzance
Carmen
Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci
The Poisoned Kiss (Vaughan Williams)

With Heber Opera, he has conducted
The Rape of Lucretia (Britten)
Hugh the Drover (Vaughan Williams)
The Pilgrim's Progress (Vaughan Williams)
The Ephesian Matron (Charles Dibdin)
Pyramus and Thisbe (John Frederick Lampe)
The Beggar's Opera (Gay/Pepusch)
Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
Tosca (Puccini)
Otello (Verdi)
Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Carmen (Bizet)
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Paglicci
Magic Flute (Mozart)
Die Fledermaus (Strauss)
Cosi fan Tutte (Mozart)
Masked Ball (Verdi)
Aida (Verdi)
Dragon of Wantley (John Frederick Lampe)
La Bohème (Puccini)

With Burgess Hill Operatic Society, he has conducted
West Side Story (Bernstein)
Brigadoon (Lowe)
Carousel (Rogers)
Sugar (Styne) – currently in rehearsal

Orchestrations
Michael started to prepare reduced orchestral version of the Heber Opera repertoire around 10 years ago when the company began to tour to smaller venues. His 'chamber orchestrations' have been successfully used for a number of years in a variety of venues. They retain much of the composer's orchestral colour whilst shifting the emphasis from a large orchestral timbre to a chamber sound.

He recently began to make his orchestrations available to other performing companies, and has had several of them performed on both sides of the Atlantic.