Andrew Gourlay (born 1982) is a British conductor. Born in Jamaica, Gourlay was subsequently raised in the Bahamas, the Philippines, Japan and the United Kingdom. He is of Russian ancestry.''Andrew Gourlay'' in ''Scherzo'' no.348, February 2019, p. 58-59. Gourlay began his musical training on the piano and the trombone. As a trombonist in his early twenties, he played with such orchestras as the Philhamonia,

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Med ...

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) ( cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Gymreig y BBC) is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisatio ...

, Hallé Orchestra and the

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert in 1968—givi ...

. He was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, with whom he played under the baton of their founder,

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

. Gourlay studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, before specialising in conducting at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

in London, where he prepared orchestras for

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lon ...

and

Sir Roger Norrington Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington (born 16 March 1934) is an English conductor. He is known for historically informed performances of Baroque, Classical and Romantic music. In November 2021 Norrington announced his retirement. Life No ...

. He acted as cover conductor for Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Sir Colin Davis, twice replacing Davis at the Barbican Centre, London. In 2010, he won First Prize at the

Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition The Cadaqués Orchestra International Conducting Competition, is a music competition for young conducting, conductors organized by the Cadaqués Orchestra in Catalonia, Spain. History The competition takes place every two years and is organized b ...

. From 2010 to 2012, he was assistant conductor to

Sir Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ...

and

The Hallé The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It supports a choir, youth choir, youth training choir, children's choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasiona ...

. In 2014, Gourlay became Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. In 2015, the orchestra named Gourlay its Music Director, with an initial 3-year contract. This was extended until August 2020. Concert subscription increased by 45% during his tenure. Gourlay oversaw the launch in 2019 of the orchestra's in-house label, releasing its first disc of music by

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

, followed by

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

Symphony no.10, both conducted by Gourlay. Gourlay has worked worldwide as a guest conductor. At the BBC Proms he has conducted the 40th Anniversary celebration of BBC Young Musician of the Year, multiple Proms with the London Sinfonietta, Ravel's ''

Daphnis et Chloé ''Daphnis et Chloé'' is a 1912 ''symphonie chorégraphique'', or choreographic symphony, for orchestra and wordless chorus by Maurice Ravel. It is in three main sections, or ''parties'', and a dozen scenes, most of them dances, and lasts just u ...

'' and the world premiere of ''Wunderkammer'' by

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In opera, he has conducted for the Royal Opera House, Birmingham Opera Company and the Aldeburgh Festival, including critically acclaimed productions of Tippett’s ''

The Ice Break ''The Ice Break'' is an English-language opera in three acts, with music and libretto to an original scenario by Sir Michael Tippett. The opera received its premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 7 July 1977, conducted by Colin Dav ...

'' with Sir Graham Vick in 2015 and Coult’s ''Violet'' in its 2022 premiere. In 2019,

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

published ''Parsifal Suite'', a 45-minute suite of orchestral music from Wagner's

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

, constructed by Gourlay."Opera without words" in ''Schott Journal - News for Music Makers'', January/February 2020, D 44049, by Schott Music. p. 10 and p. 15.

References

External links

Andrew Gourlay official website

Groves Artists agency page on Andrew Gourlay

published by Schott Music {{DEFAULTSORT:Gourlay, Andrew British male conductors (music) 21st-century British conductors (music) Alumni of the Royal College of Music English conductors (music) British classical musicians Living people Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music Alumni of the University of Manchester English people of Russian descent 1982 births Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican conductors Jamaican musicians Caribbean conductors 21st-century British male musicians