Sir Roger Norrington, one of the most distinguished British conductors of his generation, has been appointed as Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Cambridge University Musial Society (CUMS) from the end of the 2008-09 academic year.

An alumnus of Clare College, Sir Roger has had a long and highly successful career working with some of the great orchestras, choirs and opera houses in the world. He conducted last year’s Last Night of the Proms, led the judging panel on BBC 2’s recent reality-style series Maestro and has released hundreds of recordings during his career.

Sir Roger's first performance with CUMS will be Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem on 12 June 2010 in King's College Chapel.

The Society, with advice from Sir Roger, will also be looking to appoint a young professional orchestral conductor in the new role of Orchestra Director. They will work alongside Sir Roger to significantly develop opportunities for orchestral players at Cambridge University over the coming years.

During the 2009-10 academic year a series of concerts, entitled ‘Great Conductors’, will bring a succession of world-class orchestral conductors to work with Cambridge students. Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, will open the series in March 2010, and it will continue with Sir Roger's visit in June.

Meanwhile, Stephen Cleobury will be stepping down from his current position as the Society's Principal Conductor in June after 27 years at the helm, but he has accepted the CUMS Committee's invitation to retain an involvement with the Society in the new position of Chorus Director. In his new role Stephen will work specifically on the development of the Society's choral programme.

Commenting on these developments, CUMS Chairman Simon Fairclough said: "I am thrilled to unveil our new artistic leadership team. Sir Roger is one of the great orchestral conductors of our time, and I am delighted that he has agreed to become involved with Cambridge music-making on an ongoing basis.

“Stephen is renowned as one of the world's foremost choral conductors, and I am hugely grateful to him for his continuing loyalty and dedication to CUMS. Our new Great Conductors series will expose Cambridge students to a range of orchestral conductors of the highest calibre on an ongoing basis. We are entering what promises to be a golden age of great music and great musicians."
 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.