Swedes make bold maestro choice
NewsThe Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has named Ryan Bancroft, 32, as its next chief conductor from 2023.
He succeeds Sakari Oramo who finishes this year.
Bancroft, from Los Angeles, is presently principal condcutor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He won the Malko competition in 2018 and has been closely watched by a number of scouts as he stacks up credits in Finland and Wales. Stockholm first engaged him in 2019.
He is due to conduct the Nobel Prize concert on Wednesday.
Ryan is a fantastic conductor and will do a wonderful job – congratulations to him and the orchestra!
Fantastic news! Well done Stockholm!
Hope he is not leaving Cardiff and the National Orchestra of Wales as Ryan is a terrific conductor. He only presented his first concert in September at St David’s Hall because of lockdowns and was looking forward to many more with him in charge.
Good for him. But sadly reflects the absence of extraordinary young conductors nowadays – spoken from an orchestral musicians perspective. Heads down…
So Annnnnon is uninspired by today’s crop of young conductors. Oh well.
I am reminded of a former colleague whose standard of excellence for young conductors was “The Next Abbado:” if they didn’t convince her they were the next Abbado, they were worthless. Needless to say, she was unsatisfied by any of the young conductors that came to conduct our small orchestra. (Well actually, during one of our music director searches, there was one she thought was OK, but it turned out he wasn’t interested in us. Hahaha.)
I saw him conduct at the Mark-Antony Turnage premiere at the Barbican a few weeks back and he was electric. A bold choice perhaps but I have no doubt it’s a brilliant one!
Congratulations, Ryan!
They have appointed a proven and competent conductor, why is it a bold choice?
I’ve never heard of him but the comments – from the usual troll-heavy SD-erati, even – are pretty favorable. And the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic is a fabulous orchestra – so good for him. And it’s Stockholm; what’s not to like?
Brilliant Choice!