Wayne Marshall

British conductor, organist and pianist Wayne Marshall is Chief Conductor of the WDR Funkhausorchester, Cologne, and Organist and Associate Artist of the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. He 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 American composers.

In June 2017, he made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic and conducted Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony which was also televised live. Wayne Marshall also made his conducting debut with the Oslo Philharmonic for an open-air concert during the Oslo Jazz Festival. He also performed his debut concert in Davies Hall, San Francisco as an organ recitalist. Earlier in 2017 he performed in Lotte Hall, South Korea and worked with the Luxembourg Philharmonic in a concert that featured Dianne Reeves and her band. This highly successful concert was also performed at the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

Recent organ recitals include Bridgewater Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Davies Hall, Lotte Hall, Three Choirs Festival, Dortmund Konzerthaus and at the inaugural organ concert at the Philharmonie in Paris.

In May 2018 Wayne Marshall will be presenting an Organ Gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Also performing will be two internationally-renowned organists, Olivier Latry and David Briggs. He will be performing with the Seattle Symphony and giving organ concerts there in 2018 and 2019.

As organ recitalist, he has an exceptionally varied repertoire and performs worldwide.

As pianist/director and organist he has performed with many orchestras, including Los Angeles Philharmonic (World Première of MacMillan’s organ concerto A Scotch Bestiary), Swedish and Munich Radio Symphony orchestras, and Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado. He regularly features as piano soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and future engagements include, Danish National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In 2004, he gave the inaugural organ recital in the new Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles. Recent recitals include Monaco Cathedral, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Notre-Dame de Paris, Royal Albert Hall, Basilika St Kastor, Koblenz and the National Grand Theatre, Beijing.

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. Past appearances include three organ recitals; the UK première of A Scotch Bestiary; Last Night of the Proms in 1997 and the First Night in 2008. In 1998 he conducted Porgy and Bess to celebrate the Gershwin centenary and was also awarded the BBC Young Musician of the Year.

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 October 2016 he will be one of the recipients of the Golden Jubilee Award, presented by the Barbados Government, for his services to music.