Robert Hodge Conductor
Robert is a conductor known for his considerable skill, clarity of technique and good rapport with musicians. He devises exciting programmes that are enjoyable and challenging for players and audiences.
He is the Musical Director of the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Essex Symphony Orchestra, and Aylesbury Symphony Orchestra. He regularly works with Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, and made his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducting a side-by-side workshop in Swansea.
Robert is the Musical Director of Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra in London. Recently SYO have enjoyed success performing in the NFMY Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and a broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Making Music ‘Adopt a Composer’ scheme. SYO tour extensively, and under his guidance have developed a wonderful exchange partnership with Malta Youth Orchestra.
Robert is a regular conductor of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, Conductor in Residence at St Albans High School, and works at the Royal College of Music Junior Department (RCMJD) where he conducts the Sinfonia. He also enjoys relationships with organisations including Malta Youth Orchestra, Yorchestra, Oasby Music Group, Benslow Music, and Music for Everyone in Nottingham.
He is increasingly busy as a teacher of conducting technique. Robert is responsible for all of the conducting classes at the RCMJD, and he teaches on the Masters Programme at the Royal College of Music, delivering a unit entitled ‘Conducting in Education’. He has also given workshops and training in ensemble conducting technique for several schools and music services.
Born in Pembrokeshire, Robert studied at Royal Holloway, University of London before winning a scholarship, funded by the H R Taylor Trust, to the Royal College of Music where his conducting teachers were Peter Stark and Robin O’Neill. At the RCM he prepared the orchestras and acted as assistant to conductors including Lorin Maazel, Bernard Haitink and Vladimir Ashkenazy. In 2011 Robert was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, playing orchestral piano and celeste for their European tour.
For three years Robert was Musical Director of Nonesuch Orchestra, conducting an extensive series of outreach concerts and appearing at London festivals including the St Jude’s Proms in Hampstead. He has toured the UK with aerial theatre company Ockham’s Razor, directing choirs for their critically acclaimed production, Not Until We Are Lost. In past seasons, he has conducted Oxford University Orchestra, King’s College London Symphony Orchestra, Suffolk Sinfonia, Havant Symphony Orchestra, Kingston Philharmonia, Farnborough Symphony Orchestra, the Yorchestra Holiday Courses, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Tallis Chamber Orchestra.