International Conductors Guild Launches 50th Anniversary - London Conference with Julian Lloyd Webber and Mark Wigglesworth

Conductors from around the globe will gather at the Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, London, January 2-5, 2025, for the 50th Anniversary launch of the International Conductors Guild Conference.  This is the 3rd international conference hosted by the ICG with previous international events held in Copenhagen in 2013 and Valencia, Spain in 2023. This past year's ICG Conferece was held in David Geffen Hall's Sidewalk Studio, Lincoln Center, NYC with over 125 conductors attending.

The 2025 ICG London Conference features an in-depth conversation and Q & A with renowned cellist and arts advocate Julian Lloyd Webber on Saturday, January 4th.  Lloyd Webber enjoys one of the most creative careers in music today. As a solo cellist he has performed with many of the world's greatest orchestras and conductors inluding the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and every leading symphony and chamber orchestra in the UK in partnership with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Lorin Maazel, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Neville Marriner, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Mark Elder, and Sir Andrew Davies.

In 2007, at the invitation of the UK Secretary of State for Education, Julian founded the UK Government's In Harmony program and he continues to Chair Sistema England.  The two programscobined have introduced the power of music to more than sixty thousand school children from the least privileged parts of England. Julian was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1994 and is the recipient of a Crystal Award from the World Exonomic Forum (1998) the Classic FM Red Award (2005) and the Incorporated Society of Musician's Distinguished Musician of the Year Award (2014).

Julian Lloyd Webber's appearance promises to be more than the typical keynote speech as conference attendees, all conductors, will be invited to discuss the state of music education in schools and how conductors actively work with their administrative staff and education leaders to achieve collaborations with local school systems and arts education advocates.

A special feature of ICG Conferences is the Conductor Workshop which gives auditioned conductors the opporutnity to work with a leading conducting pedagogue. This January, 3 conductors will work with the outstanding Mark Wigglesworth, Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.  Mark Wigglesworth is recognized internationally for his masterly inrepretations both in the opera house and in the concert hall.  Highlights have included performances with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony.

In opera, Wiggles worth has enjoyed long relationships with The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has written articles for The Guardian and The Independent and made a six-part TV series for the BBC entitled Everything to PLay For. His book The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters, is published by Faber & Faber and has been translated into Spanish and Chinese. He has held positions as Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony, Music Director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and English National Opera and in 2025 he takes up the role of Chief Conductor with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in addition to his duties as Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the UK.

Wigglesworth will also lead a discussion of his most recent book, "The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters" following the workshop session.

The ICG Conference will begin on Thursday evening, January 2 with a "Get-Together Party" at the Cast Iron Bar & Grill located in the Marriott London Kensington Hoetl on Cromwell Road.  The Marriott London Kensington hotel will also serve as the main conference hotel. Discounts are available for guest rooms.

The International Conductors Guild (ICG) began in 1975 as a small group of dedicated conductors who realized conductors required more training, education, knowledge-sharing, and mentoring, with the result being the formation of the official Conductors Guild organization. In 2019, upon realizing the extensive overseas membership in nearly every continent, the ICG membership voted unanimously to rename the organization to the International Conductors Guild.

The ICG was the first organizer of conductor workshops in USA which has seen ICG conductor workshops taught by Sir Georg Solti, Herbert Blomstedt, Ernest Fleishmann, Giancarlo Giulini, Otto-Werner Mueller, Christopher Hogwood, Gustav Meier, and numerous additional luminary conductors.  More recent ICG Conductor Workshops include the Fort Wayne Philharmonic with ICG member, Andrew Constantine, a new workshop to debut in 2025 with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and ICG members Geoffry Robson, Dr. John Farrer and Dr. Julius Williams, and the most recent first Women Conductor's Workshop with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and ICG members JoAnn Falletta and Keith Lockhart which attracted over 50 applicants.

Each year the International Conductors Guild puts out a call for Conference Presentation Proposals and this year received nearly 40 submissions from members who volunteer to share their knowledge, research and scholarship with the Conference attendees. The full schedule of conference presentations is now located on the ICG website.

For more information on registering for the ICG London Conference, hotel and airline discount details, please view the ICG website for registration. Special registration rates are being made available to UK and Belgian conductors to attend.  The ICG London Conference is open to all conductors - symphony, opera, ballet, chorus, wind ensemble, and church or other ensemble conductors.  Contact our office at:  guild@internationalconductorsguild.org or view our website for all information.