Music scholars at Bede’s were treated to a two-hour masterclass and workshop led by conductor and music director Mark Wigglesworth on Saturday, 14 May.

Mark is an internationally renowned and Olivier Award-winning conductor and is as much at home in the opera house as the concert hall. Mark has enjoyed a long relationship with English National Opera and operatic engagements elsewhere include The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and The Metropolitan Opera, New York. 

Ten music award holders and scholars at Bede’s were very fortunate to have his guidance and expertise on an introduction to the art of conducting. The class was accompanied by Mr Scamardella and Mr Aburn and they worked on Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. In conducting, shaping the music is of paramount importance, and Mark guided the music scholars to follow their musical instincts: this was not a class purely about beating patterns, but more an opportunity to demonstrate gestures and shape, and explore different ways in which the music can be expressed. 

The music scholars who attended left feeling inspired and energised by the class; none of them had tried conducting before and it was a great first experience for them, especially trying something they had never done before. 

Director of Music, Mr Scamardella, commented: ‘We are extremely grateful to Mark for coming to give a wonderfully inspiring class to our music scholars: his insightful comments and probing musical thoughts were a tremendous fillip to us, and we are hugely thankful to him for giving up his time for us’.