Conductor

Philip Hesketh is Musical Director of Opéra de Baugé, the London Children's Ballet, West London Sinfonia and The Richmond Orchestra and makes regular guest appearances in Britain and abroad. He has a vast knowledge of the repertoire and has given concerts with many orchestras including the Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, the Orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper and the Wiener Residenz Orchester in Vienna, the National Philharmonic of Moldova and the Olsztyn State Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland.

In 2001 Philip made his highly acclaimed debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, replacing the great Russian conductor Evgenii Svetlanov in the Royal Ballet's season of The Nutcracker. Further invitations followed, in particular to the Royal Swedish Ballet to conduct performances of Onegin in the land-mark production choreographed by John Cranko to a score based on the music of Tchaikovsky.

Philip has a talent for accompanying dance that is considered rare amongst conductors and has worked very successfully with choreographers and dancers including Sir Anthony Dowell, Sir Peter Wright, Wayne Sleep, Harold King, William Tuckett, Cathy Marston and David Fielding. In 2003 he collaborated with Irek Mukhamedov on a new ballet of The Prince and The Pauper for the London Children's Ballet.

In 2004 Philip conducted a production of Flotow's Martha for the festival Opéra de Baugé, reflecting his increasing involvement with and interest in opera. This was followed, in 2005, by Handel's Rodelinde and, as a result of these, he has been invited to act as Musical Director of the festival from the 2006 season, in which he will be conducting Don Giovanni and Carmen.

Philip is enthusiastically involved in the more "popular" side of music making. Over several years he developed a close working relationship with the Salon Orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper, the home of Viennese Operetta. Performing with them in Vienna's Kursalon he introduced and conducted many summer concerts of music by the most popular Viennese composers. In Britain, he has regularly arranged and conducted open-air "Promenade" concerts for large audiences.

Recently, he has become much in demand as a communicator on all aspects of classical music, developing a name as a witty, entertaining and informative speaker. He also teaches and coaches amateurs, students and professionals in all aspects of musical performance, appreciation and theory.

Philip has a great commitment to bringing contemporary composers and audiences closer together. In July 1999 he conducted the Swedish Premiere production of Thomas Ades' opera Powder Her Face and, whenever possible, he seeks to champion the work of today's composers.

For a full list of performed repertoire please go to the Repertoire page.

Cellist

Philip was born in 1959 in Walkden, near Manchester, but after four years moving around Lancashire and Yorkshire the family settled in Cheltenham where he stayed until he was thirteen. From the age of four he was fascinated by people playing the piano and was encouraged by his parents to take lessons, which duly started at the age of seven. Shortly afterwards he was beneficiary of the, then, fairly recent revolution in school music when the nice Mr. Wilkins, Music Teacher at Charlton Kings Primary School, asked him if he wanted to play the cello. Given that he had no idea what a cello was the only possible answer was yes.

He took part in school and youth music which was an unexceptional experience until the family moved, in 1973, to Bedford. Bedford Modern School had a thriving music department under the inspirational guidance of Fred Rawlins, supported by the Headmaster, Brian Kemble-Cook. Also, Michael Rose was creating, based on the Bedfordshire Youth Orchestra, one of the most extraordinarily successful county music organisations in the country and between these two powerhouses Philip's musical life blossomed. He was very active in all levels of music-making in the county so by the time he left school he had performed, often as principal cello, almost all the central orchestral and choral repertoire and a large amount of chamber music as well. He had also worked with many great musicians including Aaron Copland, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Pierre Fournier, Shura Cherkassky, Rudolph Schwarz and many others. In the mid-seventies he played in a series of unforgettable concerts with the Bedfordshire Youth Chamber Orchestra conducted by a strange, intense young man with a mop of curly hair and an enthusiastic attitude to the exuberant social life of the young players. This conductor's name was Simon Rattle.

From the age of 14 he studied the cello in London with Lily Phillips, doyenne of the great cello school at the Royal Academy of Music. However, in 1978, having once rebelled against what he saw as the path laid out for him into medicine or industry he rebelled again, eschewing the 'establishment' and entering the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to study with the Bulgarian virtuoso Stefan Popov who had been a member of Rostropovich's legendary class in Moscow. In his first year there he played as principal cellist in the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra, working with such conductors as Simon Rattle (again) and Vilem Tausky. He was also invited to play in a string quartet which took part in the first Portsmouth International Quartet Competition and studied with the Amadeus Quartet in the inaugural season of the Britten-Pears School at Snape Maltings.

In 1983, having won several major cello prizes and been awarded the coveted 'Premier Prix' , he left the Guildhall and joined the class of the American cellist and pupil of Casals, Michael Flaxman in Switzerland. During this time he was also developing his career in orchestral and chamber music, working frequently with many groups including the Alberni and Coull Quartets, the Scottish Baroque Ensemble, the London Virtuosi and the City of London Sinfonia. Then, in 1985, he accepted a permanent post in the Orchestra of the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet (later the Birmingham Royal Ballet), a position he successfully combined with that of Principal Cellist with English Touring Opera (later City of Birmingham Touring Opera).

After some years as a successful professional cellist Philip began to turn his attention to conducting. In 1988, he directed his first concert with an amateur string group and, shortly after, conducted his first concerts with full orchestra, firstly with his old youth chamber orchestra and then with The Thames Sinfonia, an ensemble he created. When, in 1991, he was invited to take the post of Musical Director with the West London Sinfonia he decided to direct his energies solely towards conducting and left professional cello playing completely, a decision he has never yet had cause to regret.