Conductors

The orchestra has no permanent conductor. Instead, the orchestra chooses a conductor for just one concert at a time. Although some conductors will be invited back, it will not usually be in the same year. This provides variety for the audience, helps the orchestra’s musical development, and makes it more interesting for the players. Some of our conductors whom we have asked more than once are:
  • Martin Smith - Martin Smith was an Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and a scholarship winner at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied violin and conducting. Martin has been active as a professional violinist for many years. He began as a member of the Duke String Quartet, with whom he appeared throughout …
  • John Beswick - John read music as organ scholar of Hertford College, Oxford before postgraduate studies, firstly at the Guildhall School of Music (repetiteur), and then at The Royal College of Music (conducting). He won a scholarship to study under conductor Diego Masson at the 1996 Dartington International Summer School where he made his opera conducting debut with performances of Rigoletto. Since …
  • Lev Parikian - Lev Parikian is much in demand as Guest Conductor with orchestras throughout Britain. He is Principal Conductor of several London-based orchestras, and the City of Oxford Orchestra. He is also Artistic Director of the Rehearsal Orchestra. He has worked extensively with students and youth orchestras, including the Royal Holloway University of London, where he also taught conducting for …
  • Patrick Bailey - Patrick Bailey has notched up more than a dozen concerts at the helm of Hertfordshire Philharmonia, making him our most widely used conductor to date. Patrick Bailey held the conducting scholarship at the Royal College of Music where he worked as assistant conductor to, amongst others, Sir Andrew Davis and Diego Masson. Further study was …
  • Jacques Cohen - Jacques Cohen has been a regular conductor of Hertfordshire Philharmonia since 2000. Jacques read music at Oxford where he conducted the main university orchestra and performed several of his own compositions. When leaving Oxford, he was awarded the Conducting Scholarship at the Royal College of Music where he later won the Tagore Gold Medal, the …