A conductor with vast experience in all styles of music, Benjamin Pope has conducted orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Berlin Staatskapelle, Osaka Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, RTÉ and BBC Concert Orchestras, Brussels Philharmonic as well as orchestras in the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, the USA and South Korea. He has toured to Jamaica and Africa with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and worldwide with the Royal Ballet. Named Music Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 2011, Pope conducted for the company at Teatro La Fenice, Edinburgh International Festival, and at Aldeburgh Festival for Britten’s centenary at Snape Maltings.
In addition to appearances with Hong Kong Ballet, Pope has received return invitations to work with the Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Semperoper Ballett, Dutch National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Norwegian National Ballet, Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Northern Ballet and Rambert Dance Company. A long-time collaborator with Matthew Bourne and AMP/New Adventures, he has conducted Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Highland Fling and was Music Director for The Car Man, Edward Scissorhands and Play Without Words, for which he directed Terry Davies’ jazz score from the piano. He will make his débuts with Charlotte Ballet as well as concert débuts in Austria this coming season.
Pope has conducted many of the major works for chorus and orchestra, including the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart and Fauré, The Dream of Gerontius, Carmina Burana, Elijah, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, among many others. Operatic highlights include works by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Mozart and Rossini.
Pope’s work as a composer, arranger and vocalist encompasses works for concert, stage and screen, including scores for feature film and television. For Hong Kong Ballet, he has arranged Respighi’s major orchestral works for Pinocchio; and for Scottish Ballet, he composed jazz sections to complement his arrangements of Cole Porter’s music for Javier de Frutos’s Elsa Canasta. He also conducts concerts in tribute to the musical legacy of Fred Astaire, and has recently begun presenting classical music broadcasts for BBC Radio 3.
