Paul Kildea

Paul Francis Kildea is an Australian conductor and author, considered an expert on Benjamin Britten.

He was born and raised in Narrabundah, Canberra, and attended St Edmund's College, Narrabundah, where his piano teacher was Keith Radford. He studied piano and musicology at the University of Melbourne, where he met the musicologist Malcolm Gillies. Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century is dedicated "For two teachers, Malcolm and Keith", a nod to Gillies and Radford. He also gained a doctorate from the University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis was published as Selling Britten (2002).

He was associated with Opera Australia, becoming assistant conductor to Simone Young after his 1997 conducting debut with Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen.

Kildea was head of music for the Aldeburgh Festival 1999–2002, and artistic director of Wigmore Hall 2003–05.

In 2014 he was appointed Director of the biennial Four Winds Festival on the New South Wales South Coast. He resides in Berlin, Germany.

Writing

• Britten: Selling Britten (2002)
• Britten on Music (2003)
• Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century (2013)