Anthony Weeden - Conductor
Having been recognised as a conductor who is eager to step beyond traditional musical boundaries,
Anthony frequently works in many diverse styles and genres. He collaborates with innovative
musicians such as pianist Joanna MacGregor, singer-songwriters Antony Hegarty (Antony & The
Johnsons) & David Byrne (Talking Heads), saxophonist Jean-Yves Fourmeau, jazz trumpeter
Matthias Schriefl, bass player Greg Cohen, and the extraordinarily talented jazz artist Django Bates; a
relationship which began in 2004 at the Traumzeit festival in Germany with the Duisburger
Philharmoniker. During successful return visits to the Duisburger Philharmoniker, Anthony conducted
the launch concert of the Ruhrtriennale festival (2006) and the grand finale of the Extraschicht festival
(2009) and has been invited to continue his work with the orchestra. Anthony has also conducted the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of
Ireland, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Greek National Opera, Heritage Orchestra, South Bank
Sinfonia and the Santa Clarita Valley Symphony (Los Angeles); he has made several recordings and
broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, Lyric FM, West German Radio (WDR3) and Weave Records; and he is
currently Musical Director for the Avenue A Ensemble, Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy
Sinfonia, City University Symphony Orchestra, Colne Philharmonic Orchestra, Portobello Orchestra,
and in frequent demand as a guest conductor across the UK and Europe.
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Photo by Giorgia Bertazzi |
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Anthony is co-founder of the innovative Avenue A Ensemble, for which he also composes and
arranges, whose debut album Rocking Horses was released to great acclaim earlier in 2009
(available on iTunes and Spotify). In recent years, Anthony has also been a busy orchestrator in the
film & TV industry, working particularly closely with composers Michael Price and David Arnold, and
his orchestrations can be heard in the BAFTA winning Sherlock series for the BBC (Benedict
Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Sean Connery), Wild
Target (Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint), Horrid Henry (Richard E. Grant, Angelica Houston),
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding and Simon Pegg's forthcoming A Fantastic Fear of Everything,
directed by Kula Shaker's frontman Crispian Mills.
As a composer, trumpeter and pianist, Anthony studied at the Royal Academy of Music, Junior
Academy until he was 18. He completed his undergraduate degree in music at the University of
Durham (1993-1996) specialising in composition, and continued his studies in orchestral conducting
as a scholar at the Royal College of Music, London (1997-1999). Anthony studied with John Carewe,
Jorma Panula, Edwin Roxburgh, Gerhard Markson and Neil Thomson, and has worked as assistant
conductor to Lorin Maazel, Daniele Gatti, Andrea Quinn and Martin André. After winning the August
Manns prize for conducting two years consecutively, he became the first ever winner of the Norman
Del Mar Conducting Prize in 1999 and was a Western European finalist of the Maazel/Vilar
International Conducting Competition in February 2002.
Education work plays an important part of Anthony's musical life; alongside the Bar 1 creative
workshops he leads with the Avenue A Ensemble, he also coaches at the Royal Academy of Music
Junior Academy and is a frequent guest teacher of orchestral conducting at the Royal College of
Music, Trinity College of Music and City University, London
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