Born 1959, British conductor Martyn Brabbins studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and later was a conducting student of Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Conservatory. He first came to international attention when he won first prize at the Leeds Conductors Competition in 1988.
In 1994 he became Principal Conductor of the contemporary music ensemble Sinfonia 21 and Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a role he kept until 2005.
He has championed British music at home and internationally. He supports both professional and amateur music-making in the UK and he is now conductor laureate and Music Director of the Huddersfield Choral Society.
In 2002, Martyn Brabbins founded a training course for conductors at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney, Scotland, which he still co-directs to this day. From 2005 to 2007 he was Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music and during his tenure he founded the Festival Players.
From 2009 to 2015 Martyn Brabbins was the Principal Guest Conductor of deFilharmonie, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and since 2013 he is the Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra.
Martyn Brabbins has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including La Scala of Milan and the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted hundreds of world premieres by major international composers. He is a regular guest conductor in the opera houses of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Frankfurt and Lyon.
Martyn Brabbins is a favourite of the BBC Proms: in 2011 he conducted the sixth live performance of Havergal Brian’s Symphony No. 1 “The Gothic”, which was later recorded and led him to be named president of the Havergal Brian Society. In 2014 he shared the podium with Mark Elder, Edward Gardner and Roger Norrington conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the Proms.
Known for his affinity with music of the late XIXth and early XXth centuries, to which he brings a methodical sense of detail and pace as well as a Romantic sensitivity, Martyn Brabbins has recorded over a hundred albums. He has won a Gramophone Award, the Cannes Opera Award and a Grand Prix du Disque. His discography extends from Romantic to contemporary repertoire.
Martyn Brabbins recently took up the position of Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music in London.
In 1994 he became Principal Conductor of the contemporary music ensemble Sinfonia 21 and Associate Principal Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, a role he kept until 2005.
He has championed British music at home and internationally. He supports both professional and amateur music-making in the UK and he is now conductor laureate and Music Director of the Huddersfield Choral Society.
In 2002, Martyn Brabbins founded a training course for conductors at the St Magnus International Festival in Orkney, Scotland, which he still co-directs to this day. From 2005 to 2007 he was Artistic Director of the Cheltenham International Festival of Music and during his tenure he founded the Festival Players.
From 2009 to 2015 Martyn Brabbins was the Principal Guest Conductor of deFilharmonie, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and since 2013 he is the Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra.
Martyn Brabbins has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including La Scala of Milan and the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted hundreds of world premieres by major international composers. He is a regular guest conductor in the opera houses of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Frankfurt and Lyon.
Martyn Brabbins is a favourite of the BBC Proms: in 2011 he conducted the sixth live performance of Havergal Brian’s Symphony No. 1 “The Gothic”, which was later recorded and led him to be named president of the Havergal Brian Society. In 2014 he shared the podium with Mark Elder, Edward Gardner and Roger Norrington conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the First Night of the Proms.
Known for his affinity with music of the late XIXth and early XXth centuries, to which he brings a methodical sense of detail and pace as well as a Romantic sensitivity, Martyn Brabbins has recorded over a hundred albums. He has won a Gramophone Award, the Cannes Opera Award and a Grand Prix du Disque. His discography extends from Romantic to contemporary repertoire.
Martyn Brabbins recently took up the position of Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music in London.
"Praise, above all, to Martyn Brabbins. A musician’s musician, he can turn his hand with ease and perception to anything. His Tristan und Isolde was alive and agile, each act unfurling slowly towards the climax, steady, transparent, explosive."
(Fiona Maddocks for The Guardian, July 2016)
"Martyn Brabbins has a strong empathy for Zemlinsky’s musical language, demonstrating a masterly control of pacing […] refined and subtle playing […] ideal balance between textural clarity and Romantic warmth."
(BBC Music Magazine)
"Lucidly conducted. Martyn Brabbins, in charge of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, finds the natural ebb and flow in Tchaikovsky’s score and is instinctive in his support of the cast."
(The Independent)
(Fiona Maddocks for The Guardian, July 2016)
"Martyn Brabbins has a strong empathy for Zemlinsky’s musical language, demonstrating a masterly control of pacing […] refined and subtle playing […] ideal balance between textural clarity and Romantic warmth."
(BBC Music Magazine)
"Lucidly conducted. Martyn Brabbins, in charge of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, finds the natural ebb and flow in Tchaikovsky’s score and is instinctive in his support of the cast."
(The Independent)