Paul Bateman

Conductor and pianist Paul Bateman has performed a wide variety of music and is especially known for his recordings of film soundtracks. He is the conductor of Britain's National Symphony Orchestra. Bateman attended London's Guildhall School of Music, studying piano, organ, voice, and cello. His first professional post was as a rehearsal pianist (or repetiteur) for the Royal Academy of Music's advanced conducting course and as a vocal coach, working with such singers as Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Willard White. Bateman also performed as a chamber musician, co-founding the Kammerspiel Piano Trio (playing his Fazioli piano, which had been played by Freddie Mercury on his last album), gave solo recitals as a pianist, and appeared as a concerto soloist. His conducting career began in musical theater as he served as music director for productions in London's West End, such as Singin' in the Rain, The Phantom of the Opera, and Carmen Jones. Bateman's recording career began in 1989 when he served as choir master on pop singer Barry Manilow's self-titled album of that year. In 1994, he appeared as the conductor on the album Born on the Fourth of July: Music from the Films of Tom Cruise, and that was the beginning of a long career as a film music conductor in which he often released more than a dozen albums in the course of a single year. Many of Bateman's film music albums were issued on the Silva label. He also conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Film Music Gala concerts at the Royal Albert Hall for nine years and worked with individual opera singers, including Sarah Brightman and José Carreras. Bateman's career as a conductor of classical orchestral music also continued to grow. For several years, he led the Norwegian Radio Orchestra at the Nobel Peace Prize concerts in Oslo, performing with diverse artists, including Bryn Terfel, Paul McCartney, and Santana. He conducted orchestras in several countries, such as the Malmö Symphony in Sweden, the Seville Symphony in Spain, and the Dallas Symphony in the U.S. Bateman is also a composer of mostly sacred music, beginning with a Rock Mass in 1974. He has led the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on a series of albums on the Signum Classics label devoted to the music of composer Oliver Davis, many of which feature violinist Kerenza Peacock; these include Oliver Davis: Air in 2022. In 2018, Bateman was appointed the principal conductor of Britain's National Symphony Orchestra. He continued to hold that position as of the early 2020s, by which time, his recording catalog contained some 70 items. ~ James Manheim, Rovi