Mark Wigglesworth in conversation with Stewart Collins

Please note: This event is starting at 4.45pm which is 15 mins later than originally advertised. Doors open at 4pm.

A conductor is one of classical music’s most recognisable figures. Rarely though does such a well-known profession attract so many questions: ‘Surely orchestras can play perfectly well without you?’ ‘Do you really make any difference to the performance?’ ‘Are the musicians even watching you?’

The Olivier Award-winning conductor Mark Wigglesworth’s The Silent Musician is not intended to be an instruction manual for conductors, nor is it a history of conducting. It is for all who wonder what conductors actually do, and why they matter. In conversation with Stewart Collins, Wigglesworth explores the conductor’s relationship with the musicians and the music, and the public and personal responsibilities they face.

Mark Wigglesworth has worked with over a hundred orchestras, collaborating with many of the world’s finest orchestral musicians, soloists, singers and directors, in venues ranging from Vienna’s Musikverein to New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent, presented a six-part television series for the BBC entitled Everything to Play For, and recorded a highly acclaimed cycle of Shostakovich symphonies.

Mark Wigglesworth (photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke)