Henry Websdale is an opera conductor and répétiteur, living and working in Europe. He studied and trained at the University of Cambridge and Royal Academy of Music in the UK, as well as at the Mascarade Opera Studio and Georg Solti Accademia in Italy. He has worked as a répétiteur and conductor at Oper Graz in Austria and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Germany, as well as working as a répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and Glyndebourne. Since 2024, he is a member of the permanent music staff of the Semperoper Dresden, where in the 25/26 season he will conduct a revival of Luciano Chailly’s ‘La cantatrice calva’ (‘Die kahle Sängerin’).

His work in the UK includes four seasons at Glyndebourne working on a wide variety of repertoire, including Mozart, Handel, Britten, Donizetti and Janáček; work as a pianist and stage conductor at the Royal Opera House with conductors such as Sir Mark Elder and Andrea Battistoni; the musical direction of an acclaimed production of ‘The Turn of the Screw’ (Britten) at the Theatre Royal Bath with director Isabelle Kettle in Deborah Warner’s Ustinov Season.

Highlights of his time at Oper Graz included conducting performances of ‘Ein Hauch von Venus’ (Kurt Weill), and working on the Austrian premiere of ‘Morgen und Abend’ (Georg Friedrich Haas) with conductor, Roland Kluttig. In 2022 he made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper playing fortepiano for a production of ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ with Christopher Moulds and conducted a concert with the singers of the opera studio.

Henry trained at the University of Cambridge, Royal Academy of Music, Georg Solti Accademia and Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence. Whilst studying at Cambridge he was an organ scholar at King’s College, where he accompanied and assisted in the training of the chapel choir. This included concerts in Europe, Australia and the USA; playing alongside the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Academy of Ancient Music and broadcasts for BBC Television and Radio, most notably the annual broadcast of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve. At the Royal Academy of Music he was a Répétiteur Fellow and assisted Anthony Legge in productions of ‘Chérubin’ (Massenet) and ‘Albert Herring’ (Britten). He moved to Florence to be a répétiteur and assistant conductor at the 2020 New Generation Festival for a production of ‘La Cenerentola’ before studying for a year with the Mascarade Opera Studio. Having attended the Georg Solti Accademia Répétieur Course with Jonathan Papp and Jonathan Vaughan, he was subsequently invited to be a pianist for the singers’ Bel Canto Summer Course, working with Richard Bonynge, Barbara Frittoli and Grace Bumbry.