Sir Clive Daniel Gillinson,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 7 March 1946) is a British

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

arts administrator Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

. He is best known for his long tenure as the managing director of the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and his current position as executive and artistic director of

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

Early life

Gillinson was born in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, India. His mother was a professional cellist and his father, a businessman, also wrote and painted. Gillinson began studying the cello at the age of eleven and played in the

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain The National Youth Orchestra (NYO), formerly the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, is the national youth orchestra of the United Kingdom, consisting of 164 members of ages 13 to 19 years. Auditions take place in the autumn each year at va ...

. He was educated at

Frensham Heights School Frensham Heights School is a private school with a sixth form college located near Farnham, Surrey, England, run by the registered charity, Frensham Heights Educational Trust Ltd. It was founded in 1925 and formed as part of the movement for pro ...

in Surrey. He went to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

to study mathematics, but realizing that he wanted to make music his life, entered the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, where he gained a Recital Diploma and won the top cello prize. After attending the Royal Academy of Music, he became a member of London's

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

Career with the London Symphony Orchestra

He joined the

cello section in 1970 and was elected to the board of directors of the self-governing orchestra in 1976, also working as finance director. In 1984 he was asked by the Board to become managing director of the LSO, a position he held until 2005 when he left for

. Under his leadership, the LSO initiated some of that city's most innovative and successful artistic festivals, working with many of today's leading artists. In the international touring arena, the LSO established an annual residency in New York from 1997 and was a founding partner in the

Pacific Music Festival The Pacific Music Festival (PMF) () is an international classical music festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan. It was founded in 1990 by Leonard Bernstein, along with the London Symphony Orchestra, and 123 young musicians from 18 countries. The ...

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

, Japan, in 1990, with

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

and

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the S ...

. Gillinson is widely known as a proponent of music education. In this area, his initiatives with the London Symphony Orchestra included the development of the LSO Discovery music education programme, reaching over 30,000 people of all ages annually; and the creation of LSO St. Luke's, the UBS and LSO Music Education Centre, which involved the restoration and reconstruction of St. Luke's, a magnificent but previously derelict 18th-century church. He also created LSO Live, the orchestra's award-winning international CD label.

Other positions held

Gillinson was chairman of the Association of British Orchestras, was one of the founding trustees of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, and was founding chairman of the Management Committee of the Clore Leadership Programme. Since 2005, he has been the executive and artistic director of

. In 2009, his pay and benefits was $893,360 (base pay of $800,000); in 2020, it was over $2 million.

Awards

He was appointed a

(Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1999 New Year Honours List and received the 2004 Making Music Sir Charles Grove Prize for his outstanding contribution to British music. He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2005, the only orchestra manager ever to be honoured with a knighthood. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the

Curtis Institute The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

in Philadelphia in May 2007 and the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California, United States. As of 2024, it had more than 440 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada ...

in May 2025. He is on the Honorary Board of the Brubeck Institute of the University of the Pacific.

Family

Clive Gillinson is married to New York attorney Anya Gillinson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gillinson, Clive British classical cellists British arts administrators 1946 births Living people Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Alumni of the University of London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Musicians awarded knighthoods Musicians from Bengaluru Carnegie Hall London Symphony Orchestra players Players of the Philharmonia Orchestra People educated at Frensham Heights School