 Barry Wordsworth became the BBC Concert Orchestras Conductor Laureate in 2006 after being Principal Conductor since 1989. He is also Principal Conductor of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In April 2007 Barry Wordsworth was appointed Music Director of the Royal Ballet Covent Garden, having previously held the position from 1990-1995.
In 1989, Barry Wordsworth made his first televised appearance at the BBC Proms, and he has conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra regularly in subsequent seasons of the Proms. He has also toured extensively with the orchestra, including tours to Japan and to the United States for their 50th Anniversary in 2002.
Highlights in recent seasons have included guest appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony and Sydney Symphony as part of the Sydney Festival. In the UK, Barry Wordsworth has conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
In addition to his symphonic career, Mr Wordsworth has enjoyed a long and close relationship both the Royal Ballet in London and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. In recent seasons, he has also conducted productions for the New National Theatre Tokyo (including the Macmillan “Manon”), the Leipzig Ballet, and the ballet of the Opéra National de Paris, where in June 2007 he conducted “La Fille Mal Gardée”.
Barry Wordsworth has a large catalogue of recordings and has made commercial releases for all the UK based companies, including a long association with Argo/Decca International. His recording of the "Last Night of the Proms" with the BBC Concert Orchestra for Phillips Classics has achieved enormous popular success. His most recent release, an album with Bryn Terfel and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label, won a Grammy Award in 2007.
Barry Wordsworth holds honorary doctorates from the University of Brighton and the University of Central England in Birmingham, and in 2006 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Music in London.
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