Education
Born in Dundee, Gavin Plumley was educated at Monmouth School and read music at Keble College, Oxford. Having graduated in 2002, he worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and subsequently as a theatrical and literary agent.
Born in Dundee, Gavin Plumley was educated at Monmouth School and read music at Keble College, Oxford. Having graduated in 2002, he worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and subsequently as a theatrical and literary agent.
He lives in Bedford. Gavin Plumley became a freelance writer and broadcaster in October 2011, specialising in the music and culture of Central Europe. He has written about that and other subjects for a variety of publications, including The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Hudson Review, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Opera, Opera Now, Classical Music and British Broadcasting Corporation Music Magazine. Gavin Plumley appears frequently on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3, presenting Opera on 3, as well as being a guest at the British Broadcasting Corporation Proms and on Music Matters, Live in Concert and the Vienna New Year"s Day Concert.
He has also appeared on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4, including on Prime Minister, Start the Week and Saturday Review.
Gavin Plumley has been the English-language commissioning editor for the Salzburg Festival since 2013 and commissioning editor for the Oxford Lieder Festival since 2014. He writes regularly for opera companies such as the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Louisiana Monnaie, Brussels, Dutch National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and the Royal Opera House and for orchestras and concert halls including Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, the British Broadcasting Corporation Symphony Orchestra, the British Broadcasting Corporation Philharmonic, the CBSO, the LSO and Wigmore Hall.
He has lectured at numerous art galleries, museums, opera houses and concert halls, including the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Neue Galerie, New York, the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Garsington, Glyndebourne, Wigmore Hall and the Southbank Centre.