Michael Williamson has been a freelance horn player for many years, active in a number of orchestras in the North of England. He has performed much of the chamber music repertoire for wind and is regularly involved in musical theatre.
As a conductor he was Associate Musical Director of the Sinfonia of Leeds for four years and is Musical Director of Leeds Youth Opera, the Leeds Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Opera in the City, Century Brass and The Northern Wagner Orchestra which was set up to give musicians the opportunity to perform Wagner repertoire at Leeds University.
He has conducted performances of over fifty operas including The Magic Flute, The Tales of Hoffmann, I Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Carmen, Nabucco, Macbeth, The Pearl Fishers, Akhnaten, Koanga, Lakme, Peter Grimes and Turandot. Highlights include the British premiers of Philip Glass's Satyagraha and The Voyage, and the first complete Ring Cycle in Leeds for thirty years. Many of these productions have won major awards. He has been voted by the Leeds Guide Magazine as one of the 'movers and shakers' of the Leeds musical scene.