John Wilson

John Wilson has developed long-term affiliations with many of the UK’s major orchestras and festivals, and is working increasingly at the highest level across Europe, Asia and Australia. In 16/17 he became the Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and in July 2017 conducted them at the BBC Proms. This season Wilson makes his debut with the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Malmö Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra and Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin. He returns to the Sydney Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and with the BBC Scottish Symphony he continues his focus on British and American repertoire. In 2016 he made his opera debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera conducting the theatre’s first ever Madama Butterfly.

In 1994 Wilson formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway; for the past decade they have been performing annually at the BBC Proms and touring regularly across the UK. His most recent recordings include three discs of symphonic works by Copland with the BBC Philharmonic, and in November 2017 he released his first recording with the BBC Scottish Symphony of works by Richard Rodney Bennett.

Born in Gateshead, England, John Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music where he was taught by Joseph Horovitz and Neil Thomson and where he won all the major conducting prizes and, in 2011, was made a Fellow.