Benjamin Bayl is a conductor of remarkable versatility, equally at home in the worlds of symphonic, operatic and period-instrument performance. Associate Director of The Hanover Band and Co-Founder of the Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra, he is widely recognised for his historically informed approach to Classical and Romantic repertoire, as well as his flair for contemporary music and opera.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include returns to several orchestras and opera houses with whom he has established close artistic relationships, including the Warsaw Chamber Opera, Concerto Köln, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Theater an der Wien and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Bayl has performed extensively across Australasia, Europe and Asia. In recent seasons, he has made acclaimed debuts with the Auckland Philharmonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and Taipei Symphony Orchestras, as well as Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Orchestra Filharmonica di Torino and the German symphony orchestras of Aachen, Bochum and Bremen. He has also conducted numerous Scandinavian orchestras including Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Gävle, Umeå, Odense and Stavanger. His international festival appearances include Edinburgh, Savonlinna, Melbourne, Cartagena, Euro Klassik Berlin, Ruhrtrienniale Festival, Chopin Festival Warsaw and Mozart Festial Warsaw.

In opera, he has conducted at many leading international houses, among them Opera Australia, Staatsoper Berlin, Budapest State Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Hannover, Norwegian National Opera, Polish National Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Wiener Staatsoper.

Equally at ease in a wide-ranging repertoire, Bayl brings particular insight to the Viennese classics, historically informed Baroque and Romantic works, and world premieres of new commissions. A specialist in period performance, he has directed ensembles such as Collegium Vocale Gent at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and led Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Concerto Köln at the Bayreuth Baroque Festival and Theater an der Wien. He has also appeared with B’Rock, Vocalconsort Berlin, Concerto Copenhagen, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, Van Diemen’s Band and The Hanover Band, with whom he recorded a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle for digital release.

Committed to education and mentorship, he frequently leads projects with young artists and conservatoire ensembles, including the Australian National Academy of Music, Netherlands Youth Orchestra and Slovak Youth Orchestra.

Holding both Dutch and Australian nationality, Bayl was the first Australian Organ Scholar of King’s College Cambridge before studying conducting at London’s National Opera Studio and Royal Academy of Music. He was Assistant Conductor to Iván Fischer at the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and has worked alongside conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniel Harding and Richard Hickox with world class ensembles including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

August 2025