John Rigby trained at the University of Huddersfield and the Royal Northern College of Music.
He began his career in Musical Theatre and has been Musical Director for a long list of prestigious productions. In Germany, he was Musical Director for Miss Saigon at the Musical Hall, Stuttgart, and Starlight Express at the Starlight Halle Bochum, whilst West End credits include Beautiful and Damned at the Lyric Theatre, The Drowsy Chaperone at the Novello, The King and I and Sinatra at the London Palladium, The Last Empress at the Apollo, Hammersmith, Marguerite at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre, The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Peter Pan and The Pirates of Penzance at the Savoy Theatre and The Producers at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Currently, he is Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the University of London’s Central School of Speech and Drama.
He was Musical Director for Judith Weir’s The Black Spider at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra for Carmen Jones at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Other orchestras with which he has worked in concert include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the London Concert Orchestra, the Manchester Concert Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Concert Orchestra and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera in a wide and varied repertoire at major venues throughout the UK.
His recordings include the Original London Cast DVD of Beautiful and Damned, the Original London Cast Albums of The Last Empress and Marguerite, and The Best of Classical Spectacular Volume 2 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Highlights of 2010 / 2011 included open-air concerts at Leeds Castle and Kenwood House, a sell out season of Classical Spectaculars for Raymond Gubbay Ltd in arenas throughout the UK, supervising the musical The Poor Soldier for the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, and concerts with both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in repertoire ranging from Elgar’s Enigma Variations to The Pink Panther.
Future engagements include return engagements with the CBSO, the Hallé and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Raymond Gubbay Ltd White Christmas Season tour in the UK and Irish Republic, and Classical Spectacular at the 02 Arena, Berlin.
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