Paul Christ
Paul studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London and furthered his conducting studies with the opera conductor Jacques Delacôte in Vienna.
Alongside his classical symphonic work, Paul was the music director for the original West End productions of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, The Producers (with Nathan Lane) and Mary Poppins as well as for Elaine Paige in the King & I at the London Palladium. Paul conducted the original UK tour of Disney’s Beauty & The Beast and was music supervisor for productions in Johannesburg, Seoul, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. Additional credits include music director for Elisabeth (Austria/China/Germany) The Visit (Vienna), Legally Blonde (Vienna), Love Never Dies (Vienna), Miss Saigon (UK tour), Beauty & The Beast (Sydney) and music director and supervisor for Phantom of the Opera (UK tour) and Les Misérables (West End/UK tour).
Paul made his London Barbican Hall debut in 1992 and was a finalist in the London Philharmonic Orchestra Conducting Competition in the same year. He has conducted extensively in the United Kingdom, South Africa, China, Austria, Spain, Korea, Brazil, Germany and Argentina and worked with many European orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Birmingham Ballet, the London Arts Orchestra and the Danish National Radio Orchestra.
From 2011-2016 Paul was principal conductor with the Orchester der Vereigniten Bühnen Wien in Vienna, Austria. In New Zealand, he was engaged to conduct NZ Opera and the Royal NZ Ballet 2021-2022 and was most recently the music director for Disney’s Beauty & The Beast at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney.