Garry Walker (born 1974,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

conductor.

Biography

Walker received his secondary school education at St Mary's Music School. His initial musical training was as a cellist, and he subsequently played cello in the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra. In 1995, Walker graduated from the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

and

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. In 1999, Walker won the Leeds Conductors Competition. He subsequently became associate conductor of the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

(RSNO). He subsequently served as principal guest conductor of the RSNO from 2003 to 2007. Walker has also served as conductor of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, principal conductor of the Paragon Ensemble, and was a regular guest conductor of the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

. He has served on the faculty of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) as a visiting professor of conducting, and the RCS formally created the post of artistic director. In November 2015, the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie announced the appointment of Walker as its chief conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season. In June 2019,

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

announced the appointment of Walker as its next music director, effective with the 2020–2021 season. In February 2020, the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie announced that Walker is to stand down as its chief conductor at the close of the 2021-2022 season. As one of his hobbies, Walker enjoys climbing mountains. He completed his goal to climb all 284

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

References

External links

Official website of Garry Walker

Maxine Robertson agency page on Garry Walker

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland faculty page on Garry Walker

Edinburgh Youth Orchestra alumni page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Garry Living people 1974 births Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music Alumni of the University of Manchester Musicians from Edinburgh Prize-winners of the Leeds Conductors Competition Scottish conductors (music) British male conductors (music) People educated at St Mary's Music School 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century Scottish male musicians Music directors of the Opera North