MUSIC DIRECTOR

English conductor George Vass studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music; he made his professional conducting debut at St John’s Smith Square, London at the age of twenty-two. As Artistic Director of the Regent Sinfonia of London and Orchestra Nova, he has appeared at many of the UK’s major concert halls and festivals, including Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room. As a guest conductor he has worked with a wide variety of ensembles including the Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National and Ulster orchestras, the Amsterdams Promenade Orkest, Konzertensemble Salzburg, Joyful Company of Singers, London Mozart Players, Malmö Opera Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Schola Cantorum of Oxford and Oxford Orchestra da Camera. He has broadcast for BBC Radio 3 and Channel 4 television.

Over the last fifteen years he has made a significant number of successful recordings for the Dutton Epoch, British Guitar Society, Guild, Naxos, Medici-Whitehall, SOMM and Toccata Classics labels. His recording of Stephen Dodgson’s Concertino for two guitars and string orchestra was chosen as Gramophone magazine’s Editor’s Choice in March 2003. His rapidly growing discography includes a series of four discs of music by Cecilia McDowall, three CDs of orchestral and operatic music by Sir Donald Tovey, a recording of British viola concertos accompanying Sarah-Jane Bradley, two discs of vocal and orchestral music by David Matthews, Susie Self’s Second Symphony, a recording of Paul Patterson’s string concertos, two CDs of orchestral music by Joseph Holbrooke, a recording of Michael Hurd’s chamber opera The Widow of Ephesus, oboe concertos by John Joubert, Kenneth Leighton and John McCabe and most recently a disc of Piano Concertos by William Mathias and Ralph Vaughan Williams accompanying Mark Bebbington.

George Vass has held the post of Artistic Director to the Presteigne Festival since 1992, having also been Artistic Director of the respected Hampstead and Highgate Festival from 2004 until 2009. Vass is founder Artistic Director of Nova Music and currently serves the Bushey Symphony Orchestra, City of Canterbury Chamber Choir and St Albans Choral Society as Music Director.

In his dual career as conductor and festival director, George Vass maintains a strong interest in the performance and promotion of contemporary music. Over the last sixteen years he has commissioned and premiered a variety of new works from leading composers including Martin Butler, Gabriel Jackson, David Matthews, John McCabe, Cecilia McDowall, Paul Patterson, Hilary Tann, Huw Watkins, Adrian Williams, Ian Wilson and Hugh Wood.

For the operatic stage, Vass premiered Thomas Hyde’s That Man Stephen Ward (Hampstead and Highgate Festival Opera, 2008) and has conducted Britten’s Curlew River (Hampstead and Highgate Springfest Opera, 2009) and Holst’s Savitri (Nova Music Opera, English Music Festival, 2010). He recently judged for BBC Young Musician 2012. George Vass is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.