NCO plans conductor webinar

NCO is delighted to be joined by conductors Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Jonathan Bloxham as part of its Friday afternoon webinar series.

The webinar - exclusive for NCO's young musicians, but available to view publicly after broadcast - follows Mirga and Jonathan in conversation with NCO's Artistic and Educational Director, Catherine Arlidge. Together they will explore the conductors' feelings about orchestras, their wisdom on orchestral technique, behind the scenes look at how they prepare and their relationships with the musicians who they perform with.

The Guardian describes Mirga as “the live wire music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony.” Arguably the most sought after female conductor of the moment and a great role model, as a mother of a young child herself (and expecting another) she is passionate about music education. Originally from Lithuania, she was assistant conductor to Gustavo Dudamel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic before taking up her position in Birmingham.

Many of NCO's members will be familiar with Jonathan, who has been conducting NCO orchestras for many years. Jonathan himself is an ex-member of NCO and was Mirga’s assistant conductor at the CBSO from 2016 to 2018. Since then he has gained a huge wealth of conducting experience working with orchestras including Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and working with events such as Glyndebourne Festival and Northern Chords Festival, of which he is Artistic Director.

Speaking on the success of the webinars, Catherine Arlidge said: "We are super excited to be able to use the digital world to share such amazing musicians with our NCO children. These webinars are a unique opportunity to ask those questions you have always wanted to ask and to see a really personal side to these great musicians. You can even get a digital selfie with them - what’s not to love!"