Lockhart, James (1930– )

Scottish conductor and pianist. He worked as an organist in Edinburgh and London, and then as an assistant conductor in German opera houses and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, where he was a regular conductor 1962–68. In 1967 he gave the first performance, at Aldeburgh, of Walton's The Bear. He was music director at the Welsh National Opera 1968–73 (where he led a notable production of Berg's Lulu in 1971); director of Kassel Opera 1972–80; and director of Koblenz Opera from 1981. He conducted the English National Opera in War and Peace at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in 1984 and was director of opera at the Royal College of Music, London 1986–93, and of the London Schools' Vocal Faculty, from 1993. He often performed in partnership with the soprano Margaret Price.