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David Atherton (born 3 January 1944, Blackpool, England) is an English conductor. When he studied music at Cambridge University where his operatic conducting aroused much interest. After becoming the youngest conductor ever to appear at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, he spent twelve years there as Resident Conductor giving over 150 performances. He has also appeared regularly with English National Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and has a particularly close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

David Atherton was co-founder of the London Sinfonietta and, as its Music Director, gave the first performance of many important contemporary works. His work in the recording studio has gained an Edison Award, the sought-after Grand Prix du Disque, the Serge Koussevitsky Critics' Award and the Prix Caecilia. His recording of Tippett's opera King Priam won the coveted International Record Critics' Award, generally regarded as the world's toip recording prize; the composer wrote in his autobiography: "Some artists will show insight into my vision: an example would be David Atherton's conducting... But then, Atherton is a conductor of genius."

He was the youngest conductor in the history of the BBC Proms Concerts and subsequently appeared in thirty continuous seasons. He has opened the Prague Spring Festival and the Berlin Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and travels widely, in particular to the USA where he regularly visits many of the leading North American Orchestras.

From 1980-1987 he was Music Director of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and he returns to California each summer to direct the Mainly Mozart Festival, which he founded in 1989. He has also held titled positions with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

From 1989 David Atherton was the Music Director of Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. On his retirement from this position in 2000 and in recognition of his services to the music of Hong Kong, he was awarded the OBE and the orchestra's Conductor Laureate.

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