Our Conductor

Music Director

David Smith

David is passionate about conducting contemporary music alongside the more recent 20th-century music and the great masterpieces of the classical repertoire. Highlights from the 2017/18 season include his first performances of Martinu’s First Symphony and Shostakovich’s Fifth, alongside Nigel Clarke’s Symphony for Speaker and Wind Orchestra, ‘A Richer Dust’.

David is the founding Music Director of South East London Orchestra. He was Music Director of City of London Symphonic Winds (2011-2017) and has been a regular guest conductor with London Repertoire Orchestra many orchestras across the south of England and in London. As an instrumentalist David has extensive experience as an orchestral trombonist and timpanist, with rare forays into the world of the double bass.

He read Music and a Masters in Musicology at the University of Southampton, where his tutors included David Owen Norris and Michael Finnissy. He studies conducting with Robin Browning, and previously studied with Denise Ham.

When not conducting, David is a senior manager at ABRSM (the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music), overseeing all of the support for their music examiners. Away from all this, he supports the England cricket team, bakes strictly to the recipe, and enjoys debating small details with his two young children.

www.davidsmithconductor.com