John Gibbons studied at Queens’ College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music winning numerous awards as a conductor, pianist and accompanist. He has conducted across the world, including the Spier Festival, Cape Town, the Crested Butte Festival in Colorado and the Romanian premiere of Walton’s First Symphony with the Georges Enescu Philharmonic. He has also given many world premieres including the Third Orchestral Set by Charles Ives, William Alwyn’s Violin Concerto, Martyr by Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik’s Christmas Kompot and Malcolm Arnold’s opera The Dancing Master.
John’s recordings include 8 Greek Dances by Nikos Skalkottas with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the string concertos of Arthur Benjamin with the RSNO for the Dutton Epoch label, a short film score The Clandestine Marriage and Laura Rossi’s film score The Battle of Ancre (Pinewood Studios). Other film work includes a live performance of Laura Rossi’s score to the UNESCO World Heritage film The Battle of the Somme and a performance of his own score for the BFI’s presentation of the 1924 film The Open Road at London’s South Bank Centre.
John has conducted numerous productions for Opera Holland Park and most of the major British orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, Royal Scottish National, City of Birmingham Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the Philharmonia and the Ulster Orchestra. John is Principal Conductor of Worthing Symphony Orchestra, the professional orchestra of West Sussex, presenting concerts in the stunning acoustics of the Assembly Hall, Worthing with an array of international artists including Nicola Benedetti, Idil Biret, Julian Bliss, Julian Lloyd Webber, Lara Melda and Laura van der Heijden (2012 BBC Young Musician).
John, a renowned communicator with audiences, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of this approach. He works closely with composer Karl Jenkins running two national tours of Karl’s choral music in conjunction with EMI Classics. He made the official reduced orchestral version of Karl’s Stabat Mater as well as an acclaimed reduction of Walton’s Troilus & Cressida for Opera St Louis, Missouri.
John has recently become chairman of the British Music Society – promoting and preserving British music – and a Trustee of the William Alwyn Foundation. He is also choral director at Clifton Cathedral, Music Director of the St Albans Chamber Choir and artistic adviser to the Malcolm Arnold Festival, the Sussex International Piano Competition and the Clifton International Music Festival.
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