British conductor Kenneth Montgomery, died today at the age of 80. Born in Belfast, he studied at the Royal College of Music in London. He studied with Adrian Boult, and later continued to study conducting with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Sergiu Celibidache, and John Pritchard.
In 1973, Montgomery became music director of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. He was music director of Glyndebourne Touring Opera from 1975 to 1976. In 1985, he became both artistic and musical director of Opera Northern Ireland. With the Ulster Orchestra, Montgomery served as its Principal Guest Conductor, and in September 2006, the orchestra announced him as their Principal Conductor effective in September 2007. Outside of the UK, in 1975, Montgomery was named principal conductor of the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, and from 1985 to 1989 held the same post with the orchestra under its newer name of the Netherlands Radio Symphony. Later, he was appointed as the director of the Dutch Radio Choir (Groot Omroepkoor). In 1991, he became director of opera studies at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
