Damian Iorio

Damian Iorio is a regular guest conductor in Europe, Scandinavia and Russia. He has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic and the Iceland Symphony Orchestras, and he has taken part in international festivals such as the Esterhazy Haydn Festival, Bratislava Festival, Musical Olympus Festival in St Petersburg and Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen.

In the UK he made his debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera with performances of Verdi Macbeth where he worked alongside Vladimir Jurowski.

Now based in Italy, Damian has had great success with many important Italian orchestras in Rome, Turin, Palermo and Milan, and has conducted successful new productions of Britten's Albert Herring with the Accademia della Scala, Milan, and Maggio Musicale, Florence, and Britten's Curlew River at the opera houses of Trento and Pisa.

Damian is a frequent guest conductor throughout Russia, where he works with orchestras such as the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the State Hermitage Chamber Orchestra in St Petersburg and the Novosibirsk State Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. From 1999 to 2005, Damian was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Murmansk, with whom he has toured Russia and Scandinavia, and was central to the development of an important and unique collaboration with Norwegian National Opera (Den Norske Opera). Together they have given performances of operas such as Puccini Tosca, Verdi La Traviata and Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin.

Damian's work in Russia also includes the 3rd ever production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of the Screw, with performances in St Petersburg and Novosibirsk, and the Russian premiere, in Moscow, of Michael Nyman's opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, which received great acclaim both from critics and the public as well as from the composer, and was nominated for Best Opera Production at the 2004 Golden Mask Festival.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include a new production of Britten The Rape of Lucretia at Central City Opera, Colorado, a performance of Smetana The Bartered Bride at Opera de Paris, his debuts with the Orchestre de Picardie and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, return visits to I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and a studio recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006 Damian was bestowed the title Knight of the Order of Sant'Agata, Republic of San Marino, in recognition of his services to music in that state.

Born in London in a family of Italian and English musicians, Damian studied conducting with Alexander Polishchuk and Ilya Musin in St Petersburg after completing violin studies with Yossi Zivoni in the UK and Franco Gulli in the USA.

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Sir Neville Marriner CBE

Like his mentor and hero, Pierre Monteux, Sir Neville Marriner began life as a violinist, playing first in a string quartet and trio, then in the London Symphony Orchestra, during which period he founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He tours frequently with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields to the far East, North and South America and Europe and is the most prolific recording artist in the world. He was conductor and musical director of the motion picture Amadeus, the sound track of which received three Grammy awards.

Sir Neville has twice been honoured for his services to music in his own country. In addition, he has been awarded the Ordre des Lettres by the French Ministry for Culture and was created a Knight of the Polar Star by the Swedish government. Furthermore, in 1994, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville received the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, in recognition of their considerable success in the field of international concert performances and recordings.

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Levon Parikian

Levon Parikian's first musical influence was his father, the renowned violinist Manoug Parikian, whose musicianship and experience as soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader instilled in Levon from an early age a deep appreciation of the tradition of musical performance.

While studying timpani and percussion at the Royal Academy of Music, Levon developed his interest in conducting, and subsequently studied privately with Michael Rose and David Parry. Following further study with George Hurst, and at his encouragement, Levon auditioned successfully for a position in Ilya Musin's class at the St. Petersburg conservatoire. Here he gained an insight into Musin's rigorous technique of conducting, which has influenced generations of Russian conductors.

Since his return from Russia, Levon has pursued a freelance conducting career, and is much in demand as Guest Conductor with orchestras in Britain. He currently holds Principal Conductor posts with several London-based orchestras, and the City of Oxford Orchestra. He is also very committed to training young musicians and holds posts at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, Royal Holloway University and the National Youth Strings Academy. Levon is Artistic Director of The Rehearsal Orchestra, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary season.

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