He has appeared as guest conductor for leading British companies such as Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Cosi fan tutte and Jonathan Dove’s Flight), English National Opera (Le Comte Ory, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, The Rape of Lucretia, Ernani, La Vestale, Turk in Italy and Barber of Seville), Opera North (Nabucco, Idomeneo, L’Elisir d’Amor, Le Compte Ory, Der Zwerg, I Pagliacci and Jonathan Dove’s Pinocchio) and Garsington Opera (La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, La gazza ladra, Barber of Seville and L’Equivoco Stravagante). He recently conducted a new production of Madam Butterfly for English National Opera, directed by Anthony Minghella, to great critical acclaim, including an Olivier Award.

Foreign opera productions include the Spanish premiere of Peter Grimes, The Rakes Progress and Jenufa at the Teatro Lirico Nacional La Zarzuela Madrid, La Fille du Regiment, La Traviata and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Orviedo Festival, Carmen in San Sebastian and Nixon in China for Greek National Opera. He conducted Tosca, Die Zauberflöte and Fidelio at the Hong Kong International Festival, Maria Stuarda and La Finta Gardiniera for Theatre Basel, and Lucia di Lammermoor for New Israeli Opera. More recently he has conducted Maria Stuarda for Stockholm Royal Opera, The Flying Dutchman for Portland Opera USA, Flight at the Nationale Reisopera, Don Giovanni at the Niedersachsische Staatstheater Hannover and Le Comte Ory at Staatstheater Stuttgart.

His numerous opera recordings for Opera Rara and the series of classic repertoire in English for Chandos Records have been hailed by the critics, notably Rosomondo d’Inghilterra, L’Assedio di Calais, Emilia di Liverpool, Orazi e Curiazi and Il Crociato in Egitto for Opera Rara, and L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Pasquale, Tosca, Rosenkavalier, La Bohème, Il Trovatore, Faust and Carmen, for Chandos, to name a few.

In 1992 he was appointed founding Music Director of Almeida Opera where he has given the world premieres of Nigel Osborne's Terrible Mouth, Kevin Volans's The Man who Strides the Wind, Elena Firsova's The Nightingale and the Rose and Ion by Param Vir. Other premieres he has given include Stephen Oliver's Mario and the Magician at the Batignano Festival (Italy) and the UK premiere of Bruno Maderna's Satiricon with Opera Factory.

David Parry regularly conducts leading orchestras in the UK and in Europe including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, English Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Madrid symphony orchestras.

Future plans include Caterina Cornaro for Opera Rara, La Pericole for Garsington Opera and Stravinsky in Geneva. He also gives concerts with the Philharmonia and John Tomlinson, English Chamber Orchestra, Brabants Orkest and at the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.