British conductor William Lacey makes his LA Opera debut leading Tamerlano (November 2009).

During 2006, William Lacey conducted the acclaimed Birmingham Opera Company production of Don Giovanni directed by Graham Vick, and then made hugely successful debuts at Houston Grand Opera (L'Incoronazione di Poppea) and Santa Fe Opera (Die Zauberflöte), collaborating with such great singers as Natalie Dessay, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade and Nathan Gunn. He was immediately invited to return to Santa Fe for Così fan tutte in 2007. Last season, he returned to Utah Symphony and Opera (La Traviata), and the Casa da Musica in Portugal (concerts), and made highly successful debuts at both New York City Opera (Flavio) and the Greek National Opera (La Vida Breve and Il Prigioniero).

He has also conducted at English National Opera (The Tales of Hoffmann), Opera North, UK (The Magic Flute), Glimmerglass Opera, USA (Handel's Imeneo, directed by Christopher Alden), the Cologne Opera (Xerxes), and Utah Symphony and Opera (Così fan tutte). His debut with the Birmingham Opera Company was Fidelio (broadcast live on BBC TV and winner of the South Bank Show Award for Opera, 2003).

Between 1998 and 2001, William Lacey was the Staff Conductor at San Francisco Opera. Whilst there he led performances of La Bohème, The Tsar's Bride, L'Elisir d'Amore, Semele, Die Zauberflöte and Aida, performing with such artists as Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Olga Borodina, Ruth Ann Swenson and Anna Netrebko. He also conducted new productions of Così fan tutte,L'Italiania in Algeri and Albert Herring for the San Francisco Opera Center. As assistant conductor he worked closely with Valery Gergiev, Sir Charles Mackerras, and especially with Donald Runnicles (notably on Peter Grimes, the Ring, Parsifal and Tristan und Isolde).

Recent concert appearances include Mahler's 5th Symphony at the 2005 Tyrol Festival, the Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano, the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, the Orquesta Pablo Sarasate in Pamploma, Handel's Ottone at the Casa da Musica in Porto, the Israel Camerata (in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem), the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra , l'Orchestre de Bretagne (complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Till Fellner, as well as new works by Eric Tanguy), and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (including a new work by Edward Harper with over 300 singers, at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh). With the Plush Festival Ensemble, he has directed several programs combining Bach cantatas with recent works by Kurtag, Carter and Birtwistle. He has also conducted the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra della Toscana, the Orchestra Filharmonica Marchegiana, the Marin Symphony Orchestra, the Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra, and the Tyrol Festival Orchestra.

William Lacey studied music at King's College Cambridge, and in Venice and Salzburg. As a pianist and chamber musician, he studied extensively with Gyorgy Kurtag and Alfred Brendel. He started his conducting career with modern works at Almeida Opera (1996-98), and as an assistant conductor in London, Aldeburgh, Munich and Pesaro (where he worked with the support of the Peter Moores Foundation). With small London companies, he conducted Carmen and English Eccentrics. In 1998 his first commercial recording was released (Goehr's Arianna on NMC).

Mr. Lacey is an accomplished keyboard player, and he has often directed opera performances and concerts from the harpsichord, piano, chamber organ, or keyed glockenspiel. He has eclectic musical tastes and is actively involved in a wide range of music, from Monteverdi and Byrd to jazz and composers of his own generation such as Thomas Adès and Julian Anderson. He enjoys giving presentations from the keyboard about music, and has recently given lectures in Napa, Houston and Santa Fe.

He recently made his debut for the Nationale Reisopera (Les Contes d'Hoffmann) in Holland, and Washington Opera (Tamerlano) with Plácido Domingo and returned to Houston Grand Opera (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), and Birmingham Opera Company for a new Graham Vick production of Idomeneo. This season's commitments include his debut with the Canadian Opera Company (Don Giovanni), a return to the Nationale Reisopera for Nabucco in 2009, and his debut for the l'Opera Comique in Paris (Le Roi malgre Lui).