He was Music Director of Scottish Opera from 1993 to 2005. During this time he conducted operas including "Jenůfa", "From the House of the Dead", "I due Foscari", "Salome", "Fidelio", "Mary Stuart", "Káťa Kabanová", "Peter Grimes", "Tristan und Isolde", "La forza del destino", "The Jacobin", "La traviata", "Il trovatore", the world première of James MacMillan's "Inês de Castro" (a revival of which was broadcast by BBC television), "The Cunning Little Vixen", "Turandot", "Hansel and Gretel", "La bohème", "The Queen of Spades", "Dalibor", "Der Rosenkavalier", "Macbeth", "Parsifal", "Don Giovanni", "Erwartung", "Bluebeard's Castle" and "The Knot Garden". He conducted five complete performances of Scottish Opera’s acclaimed production of the Ring Cycle, which opened at the 2003 Edinburgh International Festival and was subsequently seen at the Theatre Royal Glasgow, and The Lowry, Salford. He led Scottish Opera on a number of visits abroad: to Lisbon in 1994, to the 2000 Vienna Festival, where the Company performed its highly praised production of "Macbeth", and to Porto in 2001, where he conducted the European première of MacMillan’s "Inês de Castro".