2026
Martyn Brabbins
Chief Conductor
Martyn Brabbins was recently appointed Chief Conductor of the Malmo Symphony and of the Symphony Orchestra of India, both starting in the 2025/26 season.
He guests with top international orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw, San Francisco Symphony, DSO Berlin and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, as well as the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony and most of the other leading UK orchestras. He is a popular figure at the BBC Proms, which in 2019 commissioned 14 living composers to write a birthday tribute to him, released in 2024 on the BIS label. Known for his advocacy of British composers, he has conducted hundreds of world premieres across the globe. He has recorded nearly 150 CDs to date, including prize-winning discs of operas by Korngold, Birtwistle and Harvey. In 2023 he received the RPS Conductor Award for his "colossal" contribution to UK musical life.
He was Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1994-2005, Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic 2009-2015, Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2012-2016, Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music 2005-2007, and Music Director of the English National Opera 2016-2023. He is Prince Consort Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music, Visiting Professor at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire and Artistic Advisor to the Huddersfield Choral Society.
Brabbins has had a busy opera career since his early days at the Kirov and more recently at La Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and regularly in Lyon, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Antwerp. He opened English National Opera’s 23/24 season with David Alden’s production of Peter Grimes in what turned out to be his swansong, as well as a musical highpoint of his seven year tenure. He also led a rare performance of Tippett’s opera New Year with the BBC Scottish Symphony, recording it for release on NMC.
Amongst his symphonic highlights of 24/25 he conducted the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony at Suntory Hall, the BBC Symphony at the Barbican (Boulez), made his debut with the Danish National Symphony, and returned to the Antwerp Symphony, BBC Scottish and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In 25/26 he returns to conduct the Adelaide Symphony, the Lahti Sinfonia, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the BBC Symphony at the Barbican, and the BBC Scottish Symphony. Highlights in Malmo this season include Korngold violin concerto with Bomsori Kim, Jorg Widmann’s trumpet concerto, Paradise, Labyrinth VI, with Hakan Hardenberger, and the annual New Year’s Eve concert.
His discography ranges from Romantic to contemporary repertoire, with over 60 recordings for Hyperion Records alone, notably of Elgar, Walton and Tippett. He has received three Gramophone Awards, for Birtwistle’s Mask of Orpheus with the BBC Symphony (NMC), Pickard chamber works with the Nash Ensemble (BIS) and (in 2023) shared the Concerto Award with viola soloist Tim Ridout for Elgar and Bloch with the BBC Symphony (Harmonia Mundi). He also won the Cannes Opera Award for Korngold's Die Kathrin with the BBC Concert Orchestra (CPO), and the Grand Prix du Disque for Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream.
Brabbins studied composition in London and conducting with Ilya Musin in Leningrad, subsequently winning first prize at the 1988 Leeds Conductors' Competition which launched his international career.
He guests with top international orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw, San Francisco Symphony, DSO Berlin and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, as well as the Philharmonia, BBC Symphony and most of the other leading UK orchestras. He is a popular figure at the BBC Proms, which in 2019 commissioned 14 living composers to write a birthday tribute to him, released in 2024 on the BIS label. Known for his advocacy of British composers, he has conducted hundreds of world premieres across the globe. He has recorded nearly 150 CDs to date, including prize-winning discs of operas by Korngold, Birtwistle and Harvey. In 2023 he received the RPS Conductor Award for his "colossal" contribution to UK musical life.
He was Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1994-2005, Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic 2009-2015, Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2012-2016, Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music 2005-2007, and Music Director of the English National Opera 2016-2023. He is Prince Consort Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music, Visiting Professor at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire and Artistic Advisor to the Huddersfield Choral Society.
Brabbins has had a busy opera career since his early days at the Kirov and more recently at La Scala, the Bayerische Staatsoper, and regularly in Lyon, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Antwerp. He opened English National Opera’s 23/24 season with David Alden’s production of Peter Grimes in what turned out to be his swansong, as well as a musical highpoint of his seven year tenure. He also led a rare performance of Tippett’s opera New Year with the BBC Scottish Symphony, recording it for release on NMC.
Amongst his symphonic highlights of 24/25 he conducted the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony at Suntory Hall, the BBC Symphony at the Barbican (Boulez), made his debut with the Danish National Symphony, and returned to the Antwerp Symphony, BBC Scottish and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. In 25/26 he returns to conduct the Adelaide Symphony, the Lahti Sinfonia, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie, the BBC Symphony at the Barbican, and the BBC Scottish Symphony. Highlights in Malmo this season include Korngold violin concerto with Bomsori Kim, Jorg Widmann’s trumpet concerto, Paradise, Labyrinth VI, with Hakan Hardenberger, and the annual New Year’s Eve concert.
His discography ranges from Romantic to contemporary repertoire, with over 60 recordings for Hyperion Records alone, notably of Elgar, Walton and Tippett. He has received three Gramophone Awards, for Birtwistle’s Mask of Orpheus with the BBC Symphony (NMC), Pickard chamber works with the Nash Ensemble (BIS) and (in 2023) shared the Concerto Award with viola soloist Tim Ridout for Elgar and Bloch with the BBC Symphony (Harmonia Mundi). He also won the Cannes Opera Award for Korngold's Die Kathrin with the BBC Concert Orchestra (CPO), and the Grand Prix du Disque for Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream.
Brabbins studied composition in London and conducting with Ilya Musin in Leningrad, subsequently winning first prize at the 1988 Leeds Conductors' Competition which launched his international career.
