Brian Priestman
British conductor and teacher Brian Priestman was born in Birmingham on 10 February 1927. He studied at Birmingham University and at Brussels Royal Conservatory, and initially worked in Birmingham and as music director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.
From 1964, in North America, he was music director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (1964-8), music director of the Handel Society of New York (1966-70), resident conductor of the Baltimore Symphony (1968-70), music director of the Denver Symphony (1970-8), and musical director of the Florida Philharmonic (1977-80).
He also worked in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and South Africa, appeared with all the major British orchestras and conducted more than three hundred concerts for the BBC.
He recorded for RCA and Westminster Records, conducting the first complete Handel operas for Westminster.
Priestman died at home in Broze, France on 18 April 2014, aged eighty-seven.