Our Conductors
ROBERT CHASEY
Principal Conductor
Having spent nearly two decades at the helm of the orchestra in the eighties and nineties, it was highly appropriate to invite Bob Chasey to be our Principal Conductor for our 50th anniversary in 2019. We have no hesitation in saying that we greatly enjoy being back under his enthusiastic expert direction.
Bob retired from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2017 after 40 glorious years – 34 as Principal Second Violin.
He was inspired to take up the baton by the great German conductor Rudolf Kempe after being impressed by Kempe’s stunning technique and his ability to draw more from players than they ever thought possible.
The craft of conducting has often been compared to that group of quasi mystical practices that include alchemy, water divining and compiling self-assembly furniture instructions.
Conductors themselves are often viewed as omnipotent practitioners of this most dark of arts, drawing forth sounds by means known only to the gods. To many orchestra players however, they are often seen as vastly over-paid chaps with a penchant for world domination.
Bob’s conducting hero, Rudolf Kempe, was an exception – a GREAT conductor, loved by orchestras all over the world. Working closely with him as concert master at the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Switzerland was what prompted Bob himself to delve into this murky world. Kempe’s ability to draw from all musicians, a quality often unknown to themselves, without recourse to threats, bullying or any other form of psychological warfare, was an inspiration.
Over the following 40 years, Bob has tried to keep faith with Kempe’s credo: “Music must be understood; music must be learned but above all else, must be loved.”
Bob’s overwhelming love for music and the wonderful musicians that make it, has provided the very foundation that has sustained his musical life so far.
ALEC FRANK-GEMMILL
Guest Conductor
“Alec Frank-Gemmill, a player of rare composure and subtlety”
The Guardian
“…the final word went to the excellent Frank-Gemmill…”
The Times
Alec Frank-Gemmill is well-known to audiences in the UK and beyond as a horn player. He has appeared as a soloist with dozens of orchestras and recently made his debut performing Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto at the Philharmonie in Berlin.
As an orchestral musician Alec has worked regularly with the LSO, Concertgebouw and Chamber Orchestra of Europe, as well as various groups performing on period instruments. Over the last few years his focus has shifted to conducting.
In 2022 Alec had his first professional engagement as a director, with the Norrbotten Chamber Orchestra in Sweden, having gained experience conducting amateur orchestras across the UK. He has also conducted the Gothenburg Symphony and BBC Philharmonic in rehearsal and acted as Ryan Bancroft’s assistant with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Alec has attended masterclasses with Paavo Järvi, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Donato Renzetti. He is the founder and director of the Odin Ensemble, a group performing on instruments from the early 20th Century.
See http://odinensemble.com
Former Principal Conductor
“a conductor with true vision and purpose. He has a most fluid and clear style and an excellent command on the podium… a most complete musician.”
Hailed by the Washington Post as an “up-and-coming conductor” and a “true star” of the podium, conductor and cellist Kenneth Woods is quickly becoming recognized as major talent on the international scene. He has worked with many orchestras of international distinction including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared on the stages of some of the world’s leading music festivals, including Aspen, Lucerne, and Scotia.
His work on the concert platform and in the recording studio has led to numerous broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He is currently Music Director of the Oregon East Symphony, Surrey Mozart Players, Conductor of the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra.
Recent highlights include first appearances at the Bridgewater Hall, Menuhin Hall, Albert Hall, Royal Concert Hall of Nottingham and Bute Hall. In America, his recent performance Jennifer Higdon’s new Soprano Saxophone Concerto with the Texas Festival Orchestra at the Round Top Festival was recorded for NPR’s Performance Today- a triumph that led to his immediate invitation to return in 2009.
His blog, A View from the Podium, has become a hit with music lovers in the UK, Canada and the US and received wide acknowledgement from the music critics of the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, Independent and Gramophone. 2008-9 sees him making more important UK, US and European debuts, doing extensive studio and concert work for the BBC and making his debut recordings in London for Avie Records.
In the spring of 2001, Kenneth Woods was selected by Leonard Slatkin as one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute. At the completion of the Institute, he led the National Symphony Orchestra in a debut concert, drawing great critical acclaim and a return invitation from the NSO. In the spring of 2000, David Zinman selected Kenneth Woods from a pool of over 200 applicants to be a fellow in the inaugural class of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Toronto Symphony Music Director Peter Oundjian has praised Woods as “a conductor with true vision and purpose. He has a most fluid and clear style and an excellent command on the podium… a most complete musician.”
Kenneth Woods has conducted critically praised productions of operas from Britten to Puccini, and ballet scores as diverse as Giselle, the Nutcracker and Firebird. Woods’ work as an active proponent of contemporary music includes collaborations with composers including John Corigliano, Krystopf Penderecki, Peter Lieberson and Oliver Knussen.
An active cellist cello soloist and chamber musician, his colleagues include members of the Toronto, Chicago and Cincinnati Symphonies, the Minnesota, Gewandaus and Concertgebouw orchestras and the La Salle, Pro Arte, Tokyo and Audubon quartets.
As music director of the Oregon East Symphony since 2000, he has transformed a tiny orchestra in a remote, rural area into possibly the most talked-about orchestra in the Pacific Northwest, winning universal praise for their ongoing Mahler cycle and their innovative youth programs. In 2005, he was asked by the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra to found a new professional training institute for young conductors.
In just four years under his leadership, the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop has become widely recognized as one of the leading training centers in the world for young conductors, drawing students from the world’s leading conservatories and nations as diverse as Argentina, Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Canada. In 2009, the RCICW will be the subject of a major documentary on American television.
Born in Gernika in the Basque Country of Spain, Jon Malaxetxebarria’s career as a conductor is now established mainly in Spain and in the United Kingdom. In Spain he has conducted many ensembles such as the Orquesta Radio Televisión Española, the Basque Country Symphony Orchestra, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Navarra Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orquesta Sinfónica de Extremadura, the Orfeón Pamplonés and the Malaga Philharmonic. Since 2016 he has been Music Director of the Basque Youth Orchestra.
In the UK he has conducted Manchester Camerata, Liverpool Mozart Orchestra, Crosby Symphony Orchestra, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallam Sinfonia, North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra and the Derbyshire City & County Youth Orchestra. He has been Music Director of Solihull Symphony Orchestra since September 2013.
As a keen advocate of new music, Jon performed the world premiere of Simon Dobson’s Trombone Concerto with Peter Moore and the RNCM Brass Band, broadcast on BBC Radio 2.
Following his studies at Roosevelt University, Chicago, with Dale Clevenger, in 2010 Jon moved to Manchester to study orchestral conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). Upon completion of his studies he was awarded the Mortimer-Furber Prize in Conducting, and in 2011 was appointed as conductor of the Junior RNCM. Jon is Senior Lecturer in Conducting at Leeds College of Music, a position he assumed in 2014.
Jon’s recent and future engagements include a live broadcast with the Orquesta Radio Televisión Española, a concert with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra at the Musikaste contemporary music festival, and his work as Assistant Conductor for two opera productions at the Liceu (Barcelona) and the Teatro Real (Madrid).
Guest Conductor
David Curtis is Artistic Director of Orchestra of the Swan, the driving force behind the Swan’s nationally acclaimed Take Note! and Music of Our Time series, and Festival Director of Spring Sounds, a new international music festival in Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon. The closing concert was featured on the South Bank Show with David conducting Tasmin Little and Orchestra of the Swan in the Barber Violin concerto and world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s ‘Japanese Spring’, commissioned for Spring Sounds.
His thought-provoking programming, infectious enthusiasm for contemporary music and considered but fresh interpretations of standard repertoire have established him as a conductor of note on the international stage, conducting in the Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany – recording with Dimitri Ashkenasi and the Hamburg Symphonika, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Romania, Singapore, Sweden and the USA.
In 2008 he made his debut conducting the Academy of St Martin’s-in-the-Field, one of the world’s most prestigious chamber orchestras and he has appeared with the Prague Chamber Orchestra and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra and the North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest soloist and conductor in Finland, appearing with the Mikkeli City Orchestra, the Roveniemi Chamber and Yvaskyla Symphony Orchestras in the concert hall and on Finnish Radio and in 2005 he premiered a new chamber symphony by leading Finnish composer Aki Yli-Salomaki.
In autumn 2006 he conducted in the biennial Nordic Music Days Festival with the Icelandic contemporary music ensemble Caput, the first British composer to be invited to do so, giving the world premiere of works by four leading Nordic composers for Icelandic Radio and in May 2007 conducted the Moravian Symphony Orchestra in the prestigious annual Olomouc Dvorak’s Festival and the Policka Martinu Festival.
David is a champion of new work and has commissioned and given world premieres of at least 50 works by British, Bulgarian, Chinese, Nordic, and American composers including Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, Oscar Colomina i Bosch, Joe Cutler, Tansy Davies, Joseph Duddell, Sampo Haapamäki, Lars-Petter Hagen, Thuridur Jónsdottir, Peter Lieuwen, Paul Patterson, Joseph Phibbs, Julian Philips, Marie Samuelsson, Dobrinka Tabakova, Param Vir, Andrew Waggoner, Errollyn Wallen, Shu Wang and John Woolrich.
David delights in working with musicians of all ages and abilities and has conducted at the Moores School of Music in Houston USA giving conducting masterclasses for students, at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Guildhall School.
Since 2005 he has been a regular guest conductor with the American Schools International Orchestras in London, Beijing, Brussels, Geneva and Singapore and he has wide experience with many other student orchestras in the UK and USA; Warwick University, Bedford County Youth Orchestra, Fife Youth Orchestra, Sheffield University, Gloucester Academy of Music, Birmingham Schools Symphony and Syracuse University, NY. He has recently been appointed Principal Conductor for Norfolk County Youth Orchestra.
Since 1999 David has been principal conductor of the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra and under his leadership the orchestra has developed an outstanding reputation, tackling major works such as the Strauss Alpine Symphony, Mahler, and Rachmaninov symphonies and the Britten War Requiem. The reputation of the CSO led to an invitation to give three concerts in the Annecy Festival, France in July 2008.
Keen to take music into the wider community, David was responsible for the Swan’s residency at Birmingham International Airport and for overseeing their extensive and highly imaginative Education programme. He continues to be in demand as a speaker, giving illuminating descriptions of life on the podium and behind the scenes.
Prior to conducting David had a distinguished career in chamber music, working with leading musicians and composers of international stature, including Sir William Walton, Sir Michael Tippett and Robert Simpson. His conducting teachers include the legendary Finnish maestro Jorma Panula.