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Home Canford Summer School of Music Canford Conductors Course The 2010 Canford Course The Practical Conducting Course with Rodolfo Saglimbeni Conducting Weekend March 2010 with Denise Ham Other events during the year Previous Years' Courses Resources Links |
George Hurst was born in 1926 in Edinburgh of Russian and Romanian parentage and won early distinction in Canada as a composer while a student at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. At the age of 21 he was appointed professor of composition at the Peabody Institute of Baltimore and from 1950 to 1955 was concurrently conductor of the Peabody Conservatory Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of York, Pennsylvania, studying during this period with Pierre Monteux. Encouraged by Myra Hess to return to England, he made his London debut in 1953 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he served as Assistant Conductor until his appointment as Principal Conductor of the BBC Northern Orchestra, a position he held from 1958 for some ten years. He is largely credited with this orchestra's development and the consequent reputation it now enjoys as the BBC Philharmonic. From 1968 he was involved in the formation and establishment of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and continued as Artistic Advisor to both this orchestra and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra until 1974. After a period as Principal Guest-Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the RTE in Dublin engaged him in 1990 to rebuild its Symphony Orchestra and serve as the first Principal Conductor of the newly formed National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. George Hurst has conducted all the major orchestras of the united Kingdom and Ireland and has made guest appearances with many of the most distinguished orchestras of Europe as well as touring Israel with the Israel Philharmonic. Since 1960 George Hurst has restricted his teaching exclusively to the Canford Summer School of Music, and one visit each term to the Royal Academy of Music, where since 1983, he has been Consultant to the Conducting Department. George Hurst's influence on the training of young conductors is widely acknowledged. Almost every conductor that has emerged in the UK in the last thirty years has passed through his hands at some time, either at Canford or during the trainee conductor schemes that have been active during his years in Manchester and Bournemouth. |
George Hurst
 George Hurst
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Rodolfo Saglimbeni returned to live in his native Venezuela in 1987 to become one of its leading conductors. He studied at the RAM (where he won many prizes) with Colin Metters, George Hurst and John Carewe and in Rome with Franco Farrara. He was first runner up at the Besançon International Competition for Conductors in 1985 and also won fellowships from the British Council and the Philharmonia Chorus. He was Associate Conductor of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra and is the founder and Artistic Director of the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Symphony Orchestra. He is currently the Artistic Director of the Caracas Municipal Symphony Orchestra. His concerts are regularly broadcast on radio and television in Venezuela and the South American Network. He has conducted extensively in Italy, Spain, France, the USA and many South American countries and his recordings on CD, radio and television include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the works of many Venezuelan composers. He holds the position of professor of conducting at the University Institute for Musical Studies in Caracas. |
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| Denise Ham has been responsible for the Undergraduate Conducting Programme at the RAM since 1986. She studied conducting with George Hurst after training as a pianist and cellist at Trinity College of Music. From 1980 to 1997 she was Musical Director of the North Gloucestershire Schools Orchestra; from 1992 until 2000 she was Principal Conductor of the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra and from 1998 to 2001 she was Conductor of the Orchestra at the Birmingham Conservatoire Junior School. She has been Principal Conductor of the Aberdeenshire Youth Orchestra since 1999 and was Principal Conductor of the Cheltenham Chamber Orchestra from 1999-2004. Guest conducting has taken her to Germany, Spain, Bermuda and Greece. She has established an international reputation as a teacher, giving Conductors' Courses throughout the UK as well as in Australia, Switzerland, Norway and Spain. Her instructional DVD, "The Craft of Conducting" was released in 1999 and in 2000 she was awarded an Honorary ARAM. |
Denise Ham
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| Robert Houlihan studied in Ireland and at the Canford Summer School of Music with George Hurst. In 1980 he won second prize at the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon. Following this he was awarded scholarships from the French Government and the Arts Council of Ireland to study contemporary music in Europe and conducting with Leon Barzin in Paris. Further success in competitions led to engagements in Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia. From 1990 to 1993 he was principal conductor of the State Philharmonic of Tirgu Mures, Romania and from 1992 to 1997 principal conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. He pursues a busy career as guest conductor with many of the leading orchestras in Europe. |
Robert Houlihan
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