Tim Ribchester

Tim Ribchester

Vocal Coach/Conductor

Tim RibchesterBerlin-based conductor, harpsichordist, pianist and vocal coach Tim Ribchester has established an artistic presence on four continents and been acclaimed for “passionate commitment to the composer and score…” “elegant sense of shape…” “perfected technique [and] a personal aesthetic vision.” As a baroque interpreter he is currently engaged as guest harpsichordist at the Staatsoper Berlin, as baroque repertoire conductor at the Trentino Music Festival, and as Vocal Coach and Conductor in Residence at Cape Town Opera, where he has pioneered baroque studies and vocal performances with original instruments in the company’s Young Artist Programme. He collaborates locally with Berlin’s I Porporini and Opus XX orchestras, as well as being engaged regularly for the Berlin Philharmonic’s Children’s Concert program as pianist.

As conductor his work has encompassed symphonic repertoire, contemporary chamber opera, and main stage opera from all style periods, in the UK, US, Italy, South Africa, Bulgaria, Romania, and Germany. After a five-year apprenticeship at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, he worked with Opera Philadelphia, Lyric Opera Baltimore, and North Carolina Opera before building an internationally renowned vocal coaching studio in Berlin, preparing both established professionals and emerging young artists. Conductors he has assisted include Christopher Larkin, Cristofer Macatsoris, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and most recently Sir Simon Rattle. Trentino productions he has conducted in previous seasons include Dido and Aeneas, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Rinaldo, and Alcina.
In the Boston area he has collaborated over many years in concert and recording with composers Joseph Summer and Mary Bichner, conducting the ensembles for many of Summer’s recent albums on Navona Records. His playing is featured in Park Chan-Wook’s critically acclaimed 2016 feature film The Handmaiden, and in duo with Cassia Harvey on the album The Russian Cello.