Welsh conductor and presenter Robert Guy is an outstanding musician in high demand, who has conducted more of the main classical and romantic repertoire than most of his generation. State-educated in Wrexham, North Wales, Robert is passionate about making classical music accessible to everyone; utilising the art’s unique potential to inspire, communicate, connect and empower. Robert was introduced to music at the age of three, when he was taught piano by his grandmother who noticed that Robert was having difficulty with his hearing. He was later diagnosed by doctors as being 70% deaf. After a series of operations, Robert was completely discharged from hospital aged sixteen, by which time his hearing had been fully restored. He has since gone on to forge a successful career as a conductor and educator, working at home in the UK and internationally, with orchestras, choirs and young people. Robert is the recipient of the inaugural Hilary Tann Award for outstanding achievement in music in Wales 2023, awarded by the Welsh Music Guild.
In May 2023, Robert was invited to conduct the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter Donohoe at the Chopin Piano Festival held in Pristina, and in December 2022, he made his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. As a guest conductor for Manchester Camerata, he has performed with Tine Thing Helseth, has conducted and presented concerts for Orchestra Live, has recorded for Sony PlayStation and has performed for the Manchester
International Festival. He has been involved in a number of prestigious concerts, such as working with Simon Halsey as Assistant Conductor for the BBC Proms Youth Choir at the BBC Proms, and making his debuts with the Orchestra of Opera North and Huddersfield Choral Society.
Career
Robert is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of NEW Sinfonia – a multi-faceted arts organisation, which boasts a professional chamber orchestra, a community vocal ensemble ‘NEW Voices’, and an education programme ‘NEW Academi’, all based in North Wales. NEW Sinfonia is Orchestra in Residence at the North Wales International Music Festival, where Robert has conducted the National Youth Chamber Choir of Great Britain and the world première of Gelert, a new opera by Paul Mealor. Robert has worked with the Welsh National Opera and leading soloists, and composers including Rebecca Dale, Ye-Eun Choi, Tamsin Waley Cohen, Federico Colli and Tai Murray. NEW Sinfonia is proud to partner with United to Assist Refugees UK (UAREUK); a Wrexham based, grassroots humanitarian movement dedicated to helping refugees and those fleeing war and persecution.
Robert’s collaborative approach to building trust with musicians has been shaped by his early professional career as a viola player, where he notably played with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North and alongside the Allegri and Edinburgh String Quartets. He is now mentored by some of the greatest conductors of the modern era, having been chosen for several prestigious programmes. These include being selected by Kirill Karabits to work with the Britten Pears Orchestra, Neemi Järvi, Jorma Panula as part of his Panula Academy in Finland, the Berlin Philharmonic ‘Conductors Lab’ in Aix-en-Provence and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
listen and inspire
Memorial by Professor John Casken.
Recorded by the Cosmo Singers at the University of Manchester
Conducted by Robert Guy with soloists Katie Emmanuel and Alex Hopkins.
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