WAYNE MARSHALL

British conductor, organist and pianist Wayne Marshall is world-renowned for his musicianship and versatility on the podium and at the keyboard. He served as Chief Conductor of WDR Funkhaus Orchestra Cologne 2014-2020, became Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in 2007 and is a celebrated interpreter of Gershwin, Bernstein and other 20th century composers.

Forthcoming conducting engagements across Wayne’s sixtieth birthday season include his long-awaited debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker featuring soloist Martin Grubinger, Porgy and Bess at the Theater an der Wien, return visits to Rotterdam Philharmonic, Tonkunstler Orchestra featuring Portuguese singer Camane at the Musikverein, Vienna, Liechtenstein Symphony, Strasbourg and Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestras and BR Munich. He also looks forward to his much-anticipated debut at the Edinburgh Festival and working with the Birmingham Conservatoire including a world premiere by British composer Errollyn Wallen.

Recent conducting highlights include Tonkunstler Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, SWR for a special Frank Zappa project, touring Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with Het Gelders Orkest and ReisZuid-Nederland, Shanghai Philharmonic, a concert version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with the Prague Radio Philharmonic and UK touring with Chineke! and BBC Singers.

As organ recitalist, he has an exceptionally varied repertoire and performs worldwide. In the 20/21 season he returns to the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, Essen Philharmonie and is will perform within the 150th birthday celebrations of the Henry Willis organ at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Throughout 2018 he played a key role in leading the Bernstein centenary celebrations. Highlights included Bernstein’s Mass with Orchestre de Paris at the Philharmonie de Paris and Kaddish with Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse later in the year. He also made his debut with Zurich Philharmonie in an all-Bernstein programme and conducted the rarely-performed White House Cantata in Utrecht with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He also worked with the Munich Rundfunkorchester at the Prinzregententheater and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

He conducted the first performance of the highly-acclaimed orchestra Chineke! at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Other guest-conducting invitations include Royal Scottish National Orchestra, La Scala, Taipei Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Symphony, New World Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, RAI Turin, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, and Moscow Chamber Choir.

Wayne has conducted Porgy and Bess numerous times, including at the Opera Comique, Paris, Washington National Opera and Dallas Opera. He conducted Bernstein’s Candide and Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin and Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at the Semperoper, Dresden. Marshall conducted Jake Heggie’s acclaimed opera Dead Man Walking at Montreal Opera and was immediately re-invited to conduct Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Recent notable organ recitals in the 19/20 season included Walt Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles; Kimmel Centre Philadelphia and Symphony Hall, Birmingham UK. He is a regular performer at the BBC Proms and appeared in the 2012 season as organist and was co-presenter of the Barenboim Prom in Summer 2014. He recently appeared as soloist in the 2016 season at the Ten Pieces Prom.

In 2018 Wayne recorded a Gershwin CD with WDR Funkhaus Orchestra in Cologne and a double-CD featuring all of Bernstein’s lesser-known chamber music works. His most recent releases feature all three of his disciplines: Dupre’s Passion Symphony for organ on Base2Music, ‘Born to Play’ Gershwin orchestral disc released on Avi with WDR Funkhaus and A Flower Remembered with Wayne performing piano arrangements of John Rutter’s beloved choral works, recorded at home in Malta during the 2020 lockdown. He has recorded extensively for numerous major labels and received an ECHO (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis) award for his 'Gershwin Songbook' CD.

In 2004 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Bournemouth University and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2010. In 2016 Wayne was awarded the prestigious Golden Jubilee Award, presented by the Barbados Government for his services to music. Wayne is an Ambassador of the London Music Fund.