25 year old conductor to continue role after successful stand-in performance.
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has confirmed Alpesh Chauhan will continue as Assistant Conductor for their 2015-16 season following the success of two recent concerts that saw the young conductor step in for CBSO Music Director and mentor, Andris Nelsons, atshort notice. The concerts, which featured Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony and Strauss’s challenging second horn concerto, were performed to a near-capacity audience and received enthusiastic critical acclaim.
“Alpesh is a rare talent,” said CBSO Chief Executive Stephen Maddock, “his musical passion and dedication to music is an inspiration. Having been mentored by Andris Nelsons for the past two years through the CBSO’s Conducting Fellowship Scheme and then subsequently as Assistant Conductor, his natural flair and talent meant that when Andris was unable to conduct two recent concerts, he was able to step in. These concerts were superb and we did not hesitate in extending Alpesh’s contract, which is made possible thanks to the kind support of Tony Davis and Darin Qualls”.
“The CBSO continues to support and nurture young talented artists. We are very proud of our Youth Orchestra, which is where Alpesh began his career as a cellist, our youth and children’s choruses, and we also encourage and support hugely talented conductors such as Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo and Andris Nelsons right at the start of their careers – and we know what became of them!”
Alpesh was announced as the CBSO’s first Conducting Fellow in December 2013. The fellowship was designed to enable aspiring young conductors to bridge the gap between full-time study and the classical music profession as well as offering unprecedented access to some of the best conductors, artists and musicians in the world. Following his success in this role, Alpesh was announced as Assistant Conductor for the 2014-15 Season. Since then, he has accompanied the CBSO on numerous tours including the CBSO’s most recent and biggest-ever European tour and has worked with visiting conductors including Edward Gardner and Jac van Steen.
Alpesh said: “We’d recently returned from a three-week-tour, involving 15 concerts across seven countries when, less than 24 hours before the one and only rehearsal for the performance was to take place, I got a call asking me to stand in for Andris, who was unwell.As a result, I made my CBSO conducting debut with two concerts, one at Symphony Hall and one at Oxford’s Sheldonian. The orchestra were incredibly supportive and played impeccably; I couldn’t have done it without the whole-hearted support of the musicians.
“I am looking forward to working with the orchestra, its choruses and its incredible conducting team, including Edward Gardner, Michael Seal and Simon Halsey, as well as experiencing more of the amazing Birmingham audiences.
“To be continuing in the role of Assistant Conductor is a tremendous honour for me. Birmingham is my home and to be given the opportunity to work with and conduct its orchestra, which is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest, now that’s something really special.”
