Talking Point: John Wilson

In collaboration with London’s most prestigious cabaret venue, writer and broadcaster EDWARD SECKERSON is delighted to continue his occasional strand of exclusive conversation events featuring some of the biggest names from the world of music and theatre. His objective, as ever, will be to explore their careers and chat informally about their journey, their process, and their aspirations. It’s the perfect setting for fans to share an intimate audience with their favourite performers and gain insight into their motivations and methods.

John Wilson, Conductor and Artistic Director, Sinfonia of London

John Wilson is in demand at the highest level across the globe, having conducted many of the world’s finest orchestras over the past 30 years. In 2018 he relaunched Sinfonia of London: described as ‘the most exciting thing currently happening on the British orchestral scene’ (The Arts Desk), Wilson and the Sinfonia’s much-anticipated BBC Proms debut in 2021 was praised as ‘truly outstanding’ (The Guardian) with its ‘revelatory music-making’ (The Times). They are now highly sought-after across the UK, regularly returning to the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival and London’s Barbican Centre among other festivals.

Wilson’s large and varied discography with Sinfonia of London has received near universal critical acclaim, and in the autumn of 2024 they released their twenty-fourth album since 2019. Their recordings have earned several awards, including numerous BBC Music Magazine Awards for recordings of Korngold’s Symphony in F sharp (2020), Respighi’s Roman Trilogy (2021), Dutilleux’s Le Loup (2022), Oklahoma! (2024) and a disc of works by Vaughan Williams, Howells, Delius and Elgar which won both the Orchestral Award and Recording of the Year. The Observer described the Respighi recording as “Massive, audacious and vividly played” and The Times declared it one of the three “truly outstanding accounts of this trilogy” of all time, after those by Toscanini (1949) and Muti (1984).

Born in Gateshead, Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music where, in 2011, he was made a Fellow. In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music and in 2021 was appointed Henry Wood Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.