"David Drummond is clearly a conductor who energises his performers, and the dynamism of the orchestral playing made for an exciting musical account of the score."

Opera Now

University College Opera - The Ballad of Baby Doe
British Premiere

The choral singing is thrilling, under the baton of distinguished Maestro David Drummond, who has coached the company to a pitch of perfection, and the orchestra, too. “Iolanthe” is Sullivan’s most accomplished score, and Drummond skillfuly gives it the detailed attention it deserves.

Theatre Storm

Lamplighters Musical Theatre: IOLANTHE - Gilbert & Sullivan

"David Drummond's urgent command - baton flying at one point - may have pushed the players to the limit but the excitement was palpable. The strings were fantastic in the Moeran and the horns in the Raff. But the best came last. The first movement of Mozart's Paris Symphony caught fire with an inspiration such as you rarely hear in any concert, real magic."

Oxford Times

Oxford Sinfonia

"…he worked hard with the orchestra and singers and threw himself from conducting to accompanying on the harpsichord with the baton between his teeth."

Göteborgs Tidningen

Gothenburg Opera, Sweden

"...the singers’ diction was to a commendably high standard. I can’t remember the last time I heard an opera sung so clearly - which proves that indeed it can be done. Conductor David Drummond, conducting the premiere in the presence of the composer, not only gave us a convincing rendering of the score, but made absolutely sure that at all times the singers were allowed to come through. These performances were sold out, with people flocking from far and wide for a chance to see this work."

Opera Now

University College Opera: KULLERVO - Aulis Sallinen
British Premiere

Haydn Chamber Orchestra - Tasmin Little, Violin

Brahms Violin Concerto. "David Drummond had signalled earlier what he expected from his startlingly good orchestra…the second movement was a wonderful united effort at expressing the sinuous vocal quality of Brahms's line, the finale a foot-tapping explosion of energy in which orchestra and soloist stuck together like glue.
...Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, the chopping block for so many amateur orchestra's efforts, but not with this group or this conductor who seems full of ideas. The layering of the string textures in the opening bars, leading to the carefully prepared, swirling seascape, the alertness of all sections in the whirlwind last movement and many other details made this a far-from-routine performance."

David Drummond, the conductor, and the UCL forces - soloists, chorus and orchestra - went for it as if they believed in every single note of Wolf-Ferrari's score and it was impossible not to be swept along with them.

Opera

University College Opera: I GIOELLI DELLA MADONNA - Wolf-Ferrari

Харкив Газета Время - Kharkiv Youth Symphony Orchestra

…the Youth Symphony Orchestra and Ballet opened its new season under the direction of British guest conductor David Drummond. Kharkivites will remember this musician’s name from six years ago, when he performed with this very orchestra, then newly born, at the “Kharkiv Assemblies” festival. Drummond captivated all - both listeners and fellow professionals - with the stirring, creative impulse that separates genuine talent from all those who don the black jacket and conductor’s baton.
An instructor at Royal College of Music, choir master, and conductor, Drummond is a highly sought guest in concert halls and theatres across Europe. And to get him again was hardly easy.
Drummond spent nearly a month with the youth performers preparing the program, the idea for which he conceived and developed himself.
Working on this program with the British director, the Youth Symphony Orchestra has matured and improved noticeably in skill through its interaction with this musician-philosopher.

"The moment Maestro David Drummond lowered his baton and the Lamplighters Orchestra attacked a perfectly articulated, well-paced, and modulated performance of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s delightful overture to “The Pirates of Penzance,” I began to shiver with delight. Drummond is an extraordinary conductor, and his thorough understanding of Sullivan’s music brought revelation after revelation to this remarkable production."

TheatreStorm

Lamplighters Music Theatre: IOLANTHE - Gilbert & Sullivan

"David Drummond kept a strong hand on the dramatic unfolding: the mounting excitement in the closing scene was proof of that."

Financial Times

University College Opera: LE ROI D’YS - Lalo

Last night, at a benefit which raised more than £200,000 for Cancer Research and coincidentally celebrated Abbey Road’s elevation to listed building status, Plant pushed both boundaries and buttons. He was backed by the London Oriana Choir, whose thrilling vocal pyrotechnics transcended both a patchy sound and a disastrous start where Plant’s band mistakenly struck up Stairway To Heaven, much to their leader’s displeasure. Declaring Scott Walker’s challenging 1995 album Tilt “a sensational moment in pop history”, Plant covered its half-sung, half-spoken opener, Farmer In The City, assuredly snuggling into its unsettling strangeness. Whole Lotta Love it wasn’t; rather brilliant it was.

Evening Standard

Robert Plant, London Oriana Choir, David Drummond
Abbey Road - Sound & Vision

The admirably enterprising University College Opera marked its 50th Anniversary on 19 March with the UK Premiere of Aulis Sallinen’s three-act Kullervo in the composer’s presence. On this occasion University College Opera excelled. Conductor David Drummond was deeply impressive in his control and unification of Sallinen’s forces. Each of the 15 solo singing roles was wholly convincing, while the smaller roles and the UCO Chorus deserved much praise, as did the excellent orchestral playing. A genuine triumph.

Musical Opinion

University College Opera: KULLERVO - Aulis Sallinen
British Premiere

Gothenburg Opera - KATERINA ISMAILOVA - Shostakovich

"David Drummond har tagit över föreställningarna med Katerina Ismajlova.
Det gör han med den äran, med tilltalande ungdomlig iver, påtaglig ambition, men också - kanske överraskande - auktoritet och säckerhet.
..Vad man nu fem veckor efter premiären snabbt konstaterar är, att "katerina" har mognet musicaliskt och tätnat ytterligare i dramatiskt hänseende. Orkestern spelar nu med större självklarhet och som det känna med ökad förståelse för Sjostakovijs uttrycksmedel."

"David Drummond has taken over the performances of Katerina Ismailova. This he does with credit, with attractive youthful zest, obvious conscientiousness, but also - perhaps surprisingly - with authority and security.
What one now quickly establishes five weeks after the premiere is that "Katerina" has matured musically and tightened from a dramatic viewpoint. The orchestra plays with greater clarity and with what feels like an increased understanding for Shostakovitch's mean of expression".

Scottish Opera - STREET SCENE - Kurt Weill

"… at its best the show projects through David Drummond's sleazily authentic Broadway orchestra."

Newcastle Press

"David Drummond's conducting released all the vitality and expressive melody from the score."

Newcastle Chronicle

David Drummond conducts with persuasive authority.

The Guardian

University College Opera: HULDA - César Franck
World Premiere Version

"David Drummond, responsible also for the painstaking work in assembling the full score, made a strong case for the work with his impassioned handling of the lyrical passages and his vigour and rhythmic drive at moments of high drama."

Opera Magazine

University College Opera: HULDA - César Frank
World Premiere Version

David Drummond’s skill at choral training is imprinted on everything the choir does, with phrases, dynamics and textures all tightly controlled. The full vocal power of the choir, only previously hinted at in the previous works, was finally released on the forceful opening of the 'Gloria', and the following dynamic contrasts added even more drama.

Classical Source

London Oriana Choir: PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE - Rossini

The orchestra was superb under conductor David Drummond.

Glasgow Herald

Glasgow Youth Orchestra

In all that he did, the conductor, David Drummond, was sensitively musical and yet powerfully persuasive. He may well have opened many young minds to the world of imagination lying in wait behind the black dots and the anxious fingers.

Western Gazette

The Somerset Youth Orchestra

…the musical values are so high. There isn't a weak link in the ensemble, from the richly sonorous musicians in the pit through the characterful soloists and well-drilled chorus onstage. Conductor/MusicDirector David Drummond has built an international reputation, and his Lamplighters debut signals the start of a fine relationship.

Bay Area Reporter

Lamplighters Musical Theatre: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE - Gilbert & Sullivan

Under Drummond's baton, Thomas's score, so cunningly shaped, - moved communicatively.

Opera

University College Opera: MIGNON - Ambroise Thomas

"… David Drummond, a young talent from England with Britten in his blood, does full justice to the composer. The music grips you like a vice in step with the drama on stage."

Annonsbladet

Gothenburg Opera - TURN OF THE SCREW - Britten

RNCM Student Ensemble, Germany

Auftakt und Schluß des Programms bildeten altenglische Madrigale der Renaissancekomponisten Thomas Morley und Thomas Weekles. Sie wurden virtuos gesungen und zeigten schon das musikalische Gestaltungsvermögen des Leiters der Gruppe, David Drummand.

The program opened and closed with Old English madrigals by the Renaissance composers Thomas Morley and Thomas Weekles. They were sung with virtuosity and demonstrated the musical creativity of the group's leader, David Drummand.

"In his sympathetic hands, the UCL account made us hear how much Franck's carefully rounded off forms matter. Climactic passages which might seem tame, if detached from their contexts, struck home in their proper places. "

The Financial Times

University College Opera: HULDA - César Frank
World Premiere Version

Stravinsky - Agon. "… the college symphony orchestra was conducted by David Drummond, a young Scotsman at present studying on a post-graduate conducting course during which he has frequently shown a marked flair for the contemporary idiom. The more familiar works in an interesting concert were Beethoven's C minor symphony... containing all the repeats, including the controversial one in the scherzo, in a splendidly committed and enthusiastic performance."

The Times

RNCM Symphony Orchestra: Final Concert