Originating from Hong Kong, Harry Lai is Chief Conductor and Director of Orchestra of Nottingham University Philharmonia. He has recently been chosen as Conductor associate at Cabrillo Festival; Conducting Academy participant at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Festival; and one of three conductors for a masterclass with Daniele Gatti and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He graduated with Distinction from the Orchestral Conducting Master’s programme at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), where he studied under Professors Mark Heron and Clark Rundell.

 

Harry recently returned as a guest conductor with Birmingham Opera Company for four sold out performances of RE-WIRE. He has also collaborated with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Hallé, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchestra Pforzheim (SWDKO), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), English Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, and Opera Plovdiv Orchestra amongst others. In his conducting studies, he also received lessons and mentoring from Sir Mark Elder, Nicolás Pasquet, Martyn Brabbins, Ludovic Morlot, Baldur Bronnimann, Anthony Hermus, John Storgårds, Chloe van Soeterstede and David Hill.

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Harry frequently assists BBC Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with recent highlights working with John Storgårds, Domingo Hindoyan, Mark Wigglesworth, Eva Ollikainen, Alpesh Chauhan, Paolo Bortolameolli, Paul Daniel, Joseph Young, Andrew Gourlay, Ben Gernon and Julian Rachlin. Harry has participated in masterclasses with Peter Eötvös, Gregory Vajda, Douglas Bostock and Uros Lajovic.

 

As a pianist, Harry started learning the instrument at the age of four and eventually studied with Dr. Murray McLachlan at the RNCM. Harry has appeared as orchestral pianist, repetiteur in orchestras and opera companies. As an avid chamber musician, he is also the recent recipient of the Avril Coleridge-Taylor second prize. Recent years also see Harry performing at prestigious venues such as the Bridgewater Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Glasshouse International Centre of Music, and Rector’s Palace at Dubrovnik, amongst others.