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Musical Director
Ray Farr
Ray Farr (born 1948) was educated at the Birmingham School of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music. After 10 years as a professional musician with the BBC Radio Orchestra he started his career as a conductor.
Ray has appeared in hundreds of concerts around the world and in some of the finest concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House, and has gained a reputation as a stylish conductor and a planner of interesting concert programmes ranging from light music to "avant‑garde". He is equally adept in Classical and modem music and has conducted opera, ballet and oratorio.
In 1988 Ray won a special Arts Council Award to study contemporary music with Edward Gregson and Jorma Panula, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy.
Ray has conducted at Leeds Music Festival, Harrogate Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Adelaide Festival and the Bergen Festival and has made several L.P.s, C.D.s and T.V. appearances.
He has appeared with BBC Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra (on five occasions), the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (on a World Wide TV program), Sandnes Symphony Orchestra (as Principal Conductor) and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.
As an adjudicator Ray has judged many major competitions around the world.
Ray is also a composer and arranger and was once described by Frank Renton of the BBC as "Ray of the magic pen".
Now, after hundreds of successes, orchestras and bands around the world frequently play his music, which ranges in style from Stravinsky's "Firebird" to Frank Zappa's "Dog Breath Variations".
In 2003 Ray accepted a position as Conductor in Residence at Durham University.
The international website ‘4barsrest’ recently voted Ray "Conductor of the Year".
Currently Ray is working on a PhD and has written a book on conducting.
Future projects include concerts with The Northern Sinfonia and Raymond Gubbay.
Copyright © 2010 D E Mills