©Photo: Jeff Cravotta

Christopher Warren-Green

Conductor

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“What a concert! The British maestro inspired the Tampere Philharmonic into a warm glow and wonderful solos… I can’t remember the last time I heard such a lively and dramatic ‘En Saga’. Warren-Green allowed the few big climaxes of the work to erupt thunderously, and at the same time he tended the continuity in the more understated sections.”
(Tampere Aamulehti)

Music Director: Charlotte Symphony Orchestra
Music Director & Principal Conductor: London Chamber Orchestra

Working extensively in Europe and North America, British conductor Christopher Warren-Green is Music Director of both the London Chamber Orchestra and Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina.

2021/22 marks the final season as Warren-Green’s tenure as the Music Director of Charlotte Symphony, when he will step down after 12 years at the helm becoming the Conductor Laureate whilst remaining as Artistic Advisor. This season he will conduct an all-English programme to celebrate the orchestra’s 90^th birthday, and conduct performances of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with soloist Paul Huang, concluding with Beethoven Symphony No.9 as an appropriately spectacular finale.

This season Warren-Green leads the London Chamber Orchestra with programmes featuring Beethoven, Prokofiev, Strauss, Schönberg, Mahler, Humperdinck, as well as the world premiere of Sergey Akhunov’s Concerto and a new commission by Cheryl Frances-Hoad based on Holst’s The Planets. Additional engagements of the season include conducting Beethoven Symphony No.9 at the Barbican Centre with Raymond Gubbay and two return engagements in Finland with both Oulu Symphony Orchestra and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra.

Over the last 30 years he has worked with eminent orchestras around the world as guest conductor, including Orchestre National de Belgique, Zürcher Kammerorchester, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Europe, and NHK, Yomiuri Nippon, Singapore, Sapporo and KBS symphony orchestras in East Asia. In North America he has conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit, Houston, St Louis, Toronto, Milwaukee, Seattle and Vancouver symphony orchestras, and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. In the UK, he has worked with the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National orchestras.

In addition to his international commitments, he has been invited to conduct at the wedding services of TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2005, TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Westminster Abbey in 2011 and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018. He conducted the London Chamber Orchestra on the occasion of HM The Queen’s 80^th birthday and the Philharmonia Orchestra for Her Majesty’s 90^th birthday concert at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as well as HRH The Prince of Wales’ 60^th birthday concert in Buckingham Palace.

A violinist by training, Warren-Green began his career at the age of 19 as concertmaster of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, followed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, having been a Professor there for eight years, and has appeared numerous times on television and radio. He has recorded extensively for Sony, Philips, Virgin EMI, Chandos, Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, and records with the London Chamber Orchestra for Signum Classics.

Christopher Warren-Green - Beethoven: Egmont Overture (excerpt) © LCO Live

“This moving evening of music was capped by a stunning performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem,” with the crack Providence Singers joining the orchestra. The much-recorded British conductor Christopher Warren-Green, maestro for royal weddings, was on the podium. And after a Beethoven overture that was a tad too polite, he presided over a heartfelt rendition of the wistful Elgar Cello Concerto, with Philharmonic favorite Colin Carr tackling the solo parts…This was by far the best program of the season”

(Channing Gray, Providence Journal, November 2018)

“Warren-Green was transported at one point to leap into the air, and the collective power of his “Lord of Lords” sent chills through me.”

(CVNC, December 2017)

“The maestro certainly sparked a fleet, zesty performance from the orchestra, especially the trumpets and the trombones, who brought gilded fire to the heraldic episodes.”

(BroadwayWorld, December 2017)

“What a concert! The British maestro inspired the Tampere Philharmonic into a warm glow and wonderful solos […] under the baton of Christopher Warren-Green ”En saga” by Sibelius grew into a magical story. The hall was filled with a warm, colourful and wonderfully sparkling sound, which exactly corresponded with the mystical and even tempestuous story of ”En saga”. I can’t remember the last time I heard such a lively and dramatic ”En saga”. Warren-Green allowed the few big climaxes of the work erupt thunderously, and at the same time he tended the continuity in the more understated sections.” *****

(Harri Hautala, Tampere Aamulehti, November 2017)

“[The Dvorak]… had a lot of edge, a lot of energy and sweep. The slow movement was spellbinding, giving way to a driving scherzo and a blazing finale. It was a memorable performance.”

(Providence Journal, January 2016)

“From the first slow notes [of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony] … Warren-Green had the confidence to build gradually, trusting us to stay with him. The warm, weighty opening came to full speed slowly, like a locomotive picking up steam as it climbed a long grade. The second movement burst forward like an undammed brook; the musicians played with such fervor they had to retune when it ended.”

(Charlotte Observer, November 2015)

“As for Dvorak’s Ninth (or “New World”) Symphony, conductor Christopher Warren-Green and the orchestra summoned up all of the appropriate drama on the work’s opening movement, sections and soloists stepping forward for consistently impressive turns.”

(Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press, February 2015)