The young Irish conductor Fergus Sheil has been appointed chorus master with Scottish Opera, writes Michael Dervan. He moves to Glasgow from Dublin, where he has been chorus master/head of music with Opera Ireland since 1996, and he has also been involved with the Wexford Festival since 1993.

In Glasgow he succeeds another Irishman, David Jones, who had been with the company for nearly five years. In his first season with Scottish Opera, Sheil will train the chorus in repertoire which includes Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Verdi's Aida, Strauss's Rosenkavalier, Mozart's Magic Flute, James MacMillan's Ines de Castro, and the stage premiere of Delius's The Magic Fountain; his duties in Scotland will also involve acting as assistant conductor on a number of these shows.