Peter Stark

Conductor

Training

Royal College of Music, London; 1973-7. Conducting with Norman Del Mar, violin with Leonard Hirsch

Canford Summer School of Music, England; 1976-8. Conducting with George Hurst, Vienna ‘Meisterkurse’; 1980. Conducting with Sir Charles Mackerras

Violinist

Includes:

Orchestra of Welsh National Opera; 1978-88. (Principal 2nd Violin, 1985-88)

Also Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; 1981-3

Conductor

- Orchestras including:

BBC Concert Orchestra

BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Berlin Symphony Orchestra

English Chamber Orchestra

English Northern Philharmonia

Flanders Radio Symphony Orchestra

Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra

Welsh National Opera

West of England Philharmonic Orchestra (Artistic Director; 2000 - present)

- Assistant to:

Pierre Boulez (Schoenberg - ‘Gurrelieder’. BBC Promenade Concert, 1987)

Sir Colin Davis

Sir Andrew Davis

Bernard Haitink

Lord Menuhin

Sir Roger Norrington

Tadaaki Otaka

Sir Simon Rattle

Mstislav Rostropovich

Klaus Tennstedt

- Soloists:

Nicholas Daniel

Peter Donohoe

Lynn Harrell

Stephen Isserlis

John Lill

Tasmin Little

Pascal Rogé

Martin Roscoe

- Venues:

All major concert halls in London and U.K.

Tours to; Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Italy, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Sultenate of Oman, Sweden, Switzerland and USA.

- Media:

Series Consultant to BBC ‘Maestro’, BBC television, 2008

Many recordings for BBC Radio, including; Mahler ‘Resurrection Symphony’, Shostakovich Symphony no 10, Arnold - Symphony no 5, many contemporary programmes, ‘Discovering Music’ etc

Subject of a television film made for HTV about a tour to Denmark and Sweden in 1993

CDs with music by Britten, Copland, Elgar, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Sibelius and Vaughan Williams

2006 recording of Edwin Roxburgh’s ‘Saturn’, NMCD119

- Conservatoires and Universities:

In demand from all the senior conservatoires in London. He has conducted concerts with all on a regular basis, particularly Royal College of Music (Professor of Conducting, 2007-present),Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Trinity College of Music (Senior Fellow of Conducting and Orchestral Studies, 1997-2004); Junior Academy, Royal Academy of Music. (Professor of Conducting, 1988-present). He is also frequently used as adjudicator. He has been Principal Conductor Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra since 2002

- Youth Orchestras:

Peter Stark’s reputation for work with youth orchestras is formidable. In 2009 he was appointed as Rehearsal Conductor to the European Union Youth Orchestra. He is Conductor in Residence to the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, with whom he has been a Professor since 1985. He has on numerous occasions performed with the National Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Chamber Orchestra, the National Children’s Orchestra, and many of the UK’s finest ensembles. He has been Principal Conductor of the Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra since 1994.

He has also conducted youth orchestras around the world, including the New South Wales Public Schools’ Symphony Orchestra, Australia, and the Toyota City Junior Orchestra, Japan.

- Repertoire:

In part due to his work with youth orchestras, where he has been able to choose his own repertoire, his repertory is impressive. He has conducted most of the standard repertoire of all major composers - e.g. all the symphonies and other major works of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, (and most by Dvorák, and Rachmaninov), all the tone poems by Strauss, etc. Composers from Monteverdi to the present day are covered - please see Repertoire List

Animateur

Recently Peter Stark has become very well known for his work as an animateur and consultant.

Through his work with the English Chamber Orchestra, Concilium, the Ernest Read Children’s Concerts, the Stilgoe Saturday Concerts and the West of England Philharmonic Orchestra he has developed a style of interaction with audiences that is beguiling and approachable.

Informative yet light-hearted introductions are an important part of his work as he believes passionately in the need to encourage and nurture the players and audiences of the future.

With the West of England Philharmonic Orchestra he is the leader of an extensive programme of educational work, ‘Musication’, working with thousands of primary school children

Appointments

1985-present; Conductor in Residence, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

1988-present; Professor of Conducting, Junior Academy (Royal Academy of Music)

1989-present; Principal Conductor, Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra

1994-present; Principal Conductor, Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra

1997-2004; Senior Fellow of Conducting and Orchestral Studies, Trinity College of Music, London

1999-2009; Artistic Director, Parnassus

2000-2010; Artistic Director, West of England Philharmonic Orchestra

2002-present; Principal Conductor, Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra

2007-present; Professor of Conducting, Royal College of Music

2009-present; Rehearsal Conductor, European Union Youth Orchestra

Competitions

1980; Finalist; Vittorio Gui International Competition, Florence

1987; Prize-winner; Third Leeds Competition for Conductors

Awards and Degrees

1976; Graduate of the Royal Schools of Music

1977; Adrian Boult Conducting Scholarship, Royal College of Music

1977; Arthur Bliss Prize, Royal College of Music

1977; Associate of the Royal College of Music

1977; Tagore Gold Medal, Royal College of Music (for the most outstanding student of the year)

1977; Theodore Stier Conducting Prize, Royal College of Music

1979; Allcard Grant, Worshipful Company of Musicians

1996; Honorary Associate, Royal Academy of Music, London

1996; Honorary Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London

2000; Honorary Doctor of Music, University of the West of England