John Wilson

Wilson made his opera debut in 2016 conducting Puccini Madama Butterfly at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on their autumn tour and has since conducted Gershwin Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and returned to Glyndebourne Summer Festival to conduct Massenet Cendrillon.

Wilson has a large and varied discography.  In 2018, his recording of the Korngold Symphony marked his first release with the revived Sinfonia of London and received exceptional critical acclaim and won a BBC Music Magazine Award.  Together with the Sinfonia of London and Chandos he has since recorded three releases, French Orchestral Works, English Music for Strings and Respighi: Roman Trilogy, which reached No. 1 in the UK Classical Charts in August 2020 and won the Orchestral category in the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2021.

Critical praise for Wilson’s recordings with the Sinfonia of London have included The Sunday Times selecting French Orchestral Works as Album of the Week: “The meticulous Wilson is compelling…he makes the music of all three scores sing with an Italiante accent while encouraging his players to heights of virtuosity. and a rich spectrum of dynamics and colour." Gramophone selected as Editor’s Choice the most recently released English Music for Strings, writing how “Once again John Wilson draws the most glorious sound from his hand-picked orchestra, lavishing care and devotion on repertoire that could have been written for him.”

Born in Gateshead, Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where in 2011 he was made a Fellow. In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music and in 2021 was appointed Henry Wood Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.

2020/21 season / 388 words. Not to be altered without permission.