Name Alexander Walker | Role Conductor | |
Education University of Bristol, Saint Petersburg Conservatory | ||
Education
Walker was educated at the Royal Grammar School High Wycombe. He played double bass for the National Youth Orchestra between 1990 and 1992 and later obtained a degree in music at Bristol University, where he studied composition privately with John Gardner and later with Raymond Warren. Following the completion of post-graduate studies in Double Bass in 1996 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, Walker studied with Ilya Musin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.
Career
In 2000/01 Walker conducted the English Touring Opera's production of the Magic Flute, and on 27 November 2004 the Chelsea Opera Group (UK) in Glinka's A Life for the Tsar at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. In November 2005 he conducted the Prague Philharmonia, and in the winter season 2005/6 Walker conducted three performances of The Nutcracker for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Swan Lake for a production which premiered on 23/10/2009 for the Finnish National Ballet. He appeared at the Oundle International Festival in 2009 and again in 2011 where he conducted the premiere of Prophet and Loss by Julian Grant. In 2010 he conducted the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2011 two concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In October 2011 he conducted a Gershwin Gala with the Russian Philharmonic. He has also conducted the Symphony Orchestra New Russia, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra in Bucharest, and the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.
Walker is known for conducting amateur and youth orchestras. He has been the conductor of the Berkshire Youth Orchestra, The Purcell School Symphony Orchestra, The Norfolk Symphony Orchestra, the Northampton Symphony Orchestra, The Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra, is the musical director of the Abingdon and District Musical Society and between Sep 2014 and March 2015, the musical director of Kingston Philharmonia. Walker is an aural teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. He conducts the Surrey County Youth Orchestra.