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.

Wayne Marshall’s recent conducting highlights include his critically-acclaimed debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Waldbuhne in 2021. He also made his debut with the Munich Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony and Chicago Symphony. He conducted a widely-praised new production of Porgy and Bess at the Theater an der Wien in 2020.

He has worked regularly with the Tonkunstler Orchestra, Czech, Rotterdam, Oslo and Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestras, and also with Orchestre de Paris. He has worked with the BBC Singers on several occasions and has appeared both as soloist and conductor at the BBC PROMS.

In the Summer of 2021, Wayne Marshall made his debut at the Edinburgh International Festival featuring the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein with concerts featuring Danielle de Niese and, in 2022, as conductor with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

His recent debut appearance at the Opera de Lyon was highly praised for the musical performances of Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.”

Plans for the 23/24 season include his conducting debut with the Vancouver Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and the Orchestra National de Lyon. In 2025 he will make his conducting debut in Japan with the Nagoya and Hiroshima Symphony Orchestras.

As organ recitalist, he has an exceptionally varied repertoire and performs worldwide. In the last couple of years, he has gained a big following on social media. He gave a spectacular online recital at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg in 2021. He also made his debut as organist at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2022 and returns to the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles in 2024. He has performed in most of the prestigious Cathedrals and Concert Halls worldwide. During the 23/24 season, he will be performing at the concert hall in Dortmund, Essen Philharmonie, Bozar in Brussels and will be performing for the150th anniversary celebrations of the Henry Willis organ at the Royal Albert Hall in 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 at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

He conducted the first performance of the highly-acclaimed orchestra Chineke! at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Wayne has conducted Porgy and Bess numerous times, including at the Opera Comique in 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. Wayne 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.

Wayne was honoured with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in 2021. 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 was proud to be an Ambassador of the London Music Fund from 2018 until 2021.