Stephanie Childress

Conductor / Violin

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“Clarity, and in particular unity, also flows from the orchestra under the baton of Stephanie Childress, a seriously exciting (and unnervingly young) talent who conjures a lithe, supple and above all united sound from her instrumentalists, full of atmosphere, drama and poise.”
(operissima)

Recently graduated from Cambridge University Stephanie Childress has performed extensively as conductor, director, soloist and chamber musician in such venues as Sadler’s Wells, the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall. Upcoming performances this autumn include performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Sinfonia of Cambridge and Howard Williams and conducting the Cambridge University Sinfonia in a programme of Prokofiev and Brahms.

Stephanie recently conducted a performance of The Enchanted Island with the British Youth Opera and made her debut with the Southbank Sinfonia in April 2018 in a programme of Respighi and Piazzolla. She has also conducted performances of Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia and his song cycle, Les Illuminations, at St. John’s College Cambridge, followed by Lennox Berkeley’s opera, A Dinner Engagement for the Cambridge University Opera Society. She recently conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the St John’s College Chapel.

During her studies she was leader of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and as part of their summer concert series play-directed the premiere of Tansy Davies’ Re-Greening. She also led the Balsom Ensemble, a group of professional baroque players, for trumpeter Alison Balsom’s tour of Germany in December 2016. In 2017, she was appointed as the artistic director of the tenth Young Virtuosi Summer Classical Music Festival. In February 2018 she performed Bruch Concerto No.1 with Ben Gernon and the Cambridge University Orchestra.

As a violinist Stephanie was a prize-winner at the Sevenoaks Young Musician of the Year and the Abingdon Concerto Competition and was awarded the LSO String Academy Candide Award for Outstanding Performance. In April 2017 Stephanie attended the IMS Masterclass in Prussia Cove under the tutelage of Andras Keller. In 2016, Stephanie was a finalist in the String Category of the Royal Over-Seas League Competition and a Category Finalist in both the 2016 and 2018 BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition.

Stephanie currently studies the violin with Pieter Schoeman, Leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and plays on an Italian violin made by Francesco Gobetti, Venice c 1710.

“Clarity, and in particular unity, also flows from the orchestra under the baton of Stephanie Childress, a seriously exciting (and unnervingly young) talent who conjures a lithe, supple and above all united sound from her instrumentalists, full of atmosphere, drama and poise. Childress’ command of her orchestra brings verve, bite and gravity to the score’s darker moments, while exulting merrily in its racier passages, and the sheer musicality of this production is another of its strengths.”

(Operissima, February 2018)

“Stephanie Childress, was both the conductor and the concert’s stand out performer. From the moment she entered the Chapel she commanded the orchestra with such poise and energy that it was truly impossible to believe she was only eighteen years of age. In a video played before the concert, St John’s’ Director of Music commented on some of the notable young conductors of the past, such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Simon Rattle. Perhaps such heights too lie in wait for Childress, who successfully tackled what she described in her Twitter feed as “the gargantuan mass of music” that is Beethoven’s 9^th symphony.”

(Varsity, November 2017)

Stephanie Childress

Linda Marks

Ed Milner

Lauren Pink

HARRISONPARROTT IS DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE WORLDWIDE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF CONDUCTOR/VIOLINIST STEPHANIE CHILDRESS

Linda Marks

Ed Milner

Lauren Pink