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Conductor Geoffrey Bushell
 
About our conductor A message from Geoffrey

About our conductor

Our Conductor and Musical Director, Geoffrey Bushell, has directed St Giles Orchestra since 1983. He has studied conducting with George Hurst and Adrian Leaper at Canford, and is well known in Oxfordshire as a player of French horn and double bass, and as composer of mainly romantic style pieces ranging from small ensembles to large-scale symphonic works. Many of his pieces have been premiered by St Giles Orchestra. As well as significantly increasing the technical and musical standard of the Orchestra, Geoffrey is renowned for introducing players and audience to lesser-known and unjustly neglected repertoire.

In November 2009, Geoffrey celebrated conducting his 100th concert of St Giles Orchestra.

Geoffrey is also internationally known for his website celebrating the epic Third Symphony of Reinhold Gliere.

 

  Geoffrey Bushell, conductor

A message from Geoff

It has been a pleasure to conduct St Giles Orchestra for the last twenty-five years. In that time, the orchestra has made great strides in its technical ability, as confirmed by players who return after not hearing us for a while, and by the generous comments of our audience. As well as the obvious benefits, our greater mastery of the notes has enabled us to tackle increasingly difficult repertoire, thus ensuring that we have the capability to play the music our players and audiences appreciate.

Over the last 25 years, our audiences have also grown significantly. I am gratified that when we feature lesser known repertoire, which has become somewhat of a hallmark of St Giles Orchestra, audiences nearly always enjoy it because they say they trust us to play music which always contains a good tune.

It is a great tribute to the orchestra that we can attract guest musicians who once played in professional orchestras - currently this list includes the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the European Union Baroque Orchestra.

As musical director, I try to lead the development of the orchestra according to a set of principles, ably assisted by our enthusiastic management committee:
- Select popular repertoire based on audience and player preferences
- Introduce audiences and players to rare but enjoyable repertoire
- Encourage the growth of audiences by offering a complete and enjoyable experience
- Develop players through selection of challenging but rewarding repertoire and new musical projects
- Involve players in the running of the orchestra
- Through partnerships, make music with and for other organisations
- Maintain a friendly and sociable organisation.

Looking to the future, we draft programmes two or three years ahead, and are looking forward to working with highly gifted soloists, many of whom come from major professional orchestras - some even from overseas. As well as inviting back soloists who have performed with us before, we also provide career-launching opportunities for students and aspiring professionals to play concertos.

When I look back at the progress that we have made over the last twenty-five years, it gives me great satisfaction to have been a part of it. I am also greatly looking forward to our future concerts. Whether you are a player, a member of the audience, a prospective soloist or partner, I hope you will find the essence of SGO on this website, and that it will encourage you to share our musical journey.

Conductor and Musical Director

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