Kevin Purcell

Conductor & Musical Director | Composer & Arranger

DMA, Ph.D., MFA, M.Mus., M.M. (Bard), PGDip.Ed., GDipM., BA

Kevin Purcell is one of Australia’s most distinguished and awarded orchestral, opera and musical theatre conductors. He is the Principal Conductor of the Australian Discovery Orchestra – one of the world’s most innovative orchestral ensembles – whilst maintaining an active freelance career in the USA.

Having originally studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory with Gennady Rozhdestvensky (1992) on scholarship, Kevin subsequently undertook his graduate conducting studies at the Janácek Academy of Music (JAMU) with Otakar Trhlík culminating with a Masters degree in orchestral conducting at Bard College (NY) under the late Harold Farberman.  Additionally, Kevin studied Opera conducting with British conductor and Glyndebourne music director, Myer Fredman, and latterly with Carlo Montanaro.

Amongst the numerous awards Kevin has garnered include: GOI-IES Scholarship (2021); The American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the performance of American music (The American Prize, 2019); Tait Memorial Trust Award (London, U.K.,1996); Australian Music Foundation in London Sir Charles Mackerras Prize (1994 & 1995); Opera Australia Willem van Otterloo Scholarship (1993) and the Bellhouse Conducting Prize (Sydney, 1993).

Kevin has previously been the musical director of the original production of CATS at the New London Theatre and for the South Korean Premiere production. More recently Kevin has conducted WICKED at London’s Apollo Victoria theatre and was the originating musical director for the first national UK/Eire tour. As a composer of musicals, Kevin has worked with his long-time collaborator, book writer and lyricist Victor Kazan on Rebecca, The Stranger from Seville and Castle Gillian. He is currently developing the musical stage adaptation of To Catch a Thief for Broadway in 2026.

He is a member of The Recording Academy (Grammy Awards) and the Dramatists Guild. Kevin is managed by Francine Fletcher at Fletcher Associates (UK) and in the USA by William Reinert Associates, Inc.