The first British GMD in Germany, RIP

The death has been recorded, aged 94 of the Scottish conductor James Lockhart, a formative force in British and German opera houses.

Early in his career, Lockhart spent five years in Cardiff as music director of the company that became Welsh National Opera. He went on in 1972 to be Generalmusikdirektor in Kassel, the first UK-born conductor to command a German opera house. In the 1980s he was in charge of opera in Koblenz. From 1986 to 1992 he was Director of Opera at the Royal College of Music.

A man of great energy and strong opinions, his talents were underappreciated in his home country. He enjoyed a close coaching and personal relationship with the formidable Welsh soprano Margaret Price.

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