Adrian Brown (musician)

Adrian Brown (born 1949) was educated at Northgate Grammar School for Boys in Ipswich, Suffolk. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London, he studied with Sir Adrian Boult.[1] He was a finalist in the 1975 Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition in Berlin,[2] which is something that no other British conductor has achieved.[1] Boult has noted of Brown that "He has always impressed me as a musician of exceptional attainments who has all the right gifts and ideas to make him a first class conductor".[1]

The first professional orchestra that he conducted was the Berlin Philharmonic, but he found this a challenge because the players were more solemn than he was used to.[3]

In 1992, Brown went to Russia to conduct the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.[4]

In 1996 he went to Japan to work with the Toyama Toho Academy Orchestra.[4]

In 1998 Sir Roger Norrington invited Brown to conduct the Camerata Salzburg.[4]

In 2009 he conducted the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra in Vilnius.[4]

In addition to the many overseas orchestras that Brown has worked with, he has also conducted many British orchestras, including the City of Birmingham Symphony, the BBC Symphony, the BBC Scottish Symphony and the London Sinfonietta.[1]

Brown is an advocate of contemporary music, and has conducted first performances of several contemporary compositions.[4] However, he is most noted for his work with youth orchestras, both in the UK and in Europe, Japan and the Philippines. He has had close associations with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, where he worked with Sir Colin Davis and Sir Roger Norrington, as well as the National Youth Wind Orchestra. He also acted as the Musical Director of the Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra for forty years, up to his retirement in March 2013.[4] In 1989 he received the Novello Award for Youth Orchestras at the Edinburgh Festival, where he was conducting the Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra.[1] He has been a regular chairman of the jury for the National Association of Youth Orchestras' Conducting Competition, and in 2005 he was invited to join the panel of jury members for Music for Youth.

In June 2002 Brown was one of a hundred musicians who were presented with an award by Classic FM at their Tenth Birthday Honours Celebration.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Royal Orchestral Society: Profiles". Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Osborne, Richard (1999). Herbert Von Karajan: A Life in Music. Random House. p. 821. ISBN 9780712664653.
  3. ↑ "Music and Musicians" 24. 1975: 12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Corinthian Chamber Orchestra: Adrian Brown". Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Tenth Allianz Cornhill Musical Insurance Conducting Prize Seminar, Allianz, retrieved 20 April 2010
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