Artistic Leadership

Robert Chasey
Artistic Director & Principal Conductor

Bolton Symphony Orchestra was delighted to appoint Robert as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor in 2003.

Robert was born in Bristol in 1952. After studying at the Royal Northern College of Music, he joined the Orchestra of the Royal Ballet as Assistant Leader. In 1977 he was appointed Principal Second Violin of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, now the BBC Philharmonic. As a soloist he has played all over the world in such varied venues as Philadelphia, Gibraltar and Montreux.

The conducting spark was lit while working with the late Rudolph Kempe in London and Switzerland and this continues to burn fruitfully to the enjoyment of orchestras and choirs up and down the country.

Helen Brackley Jones
Leader

Helen began to study the violin at the age of 3 and was a pupil of Paul Mountain for ten years in her hometown of Leeds. At the age of 16, she became a resident student at Chetham’s School of Music where she began to study with Malcolm Layfield. She subsequently studied on the Joint Course between the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating in 1998.

During her time at the RNCM, Helen won both the John Ireland and Schubert chamber music prizes and in 1998 Helen was awarded a Countess of Munster Scholarship to undertake an MA degree in the Performance of Contemporary Music at Huddersfield University, in which she gained a distinction.

Helen specialises in the performance of contemporary music and, on finishing her education, she became a founder member of the contemporary music ensemble Vamos!, and formed "Duo Berimbau”, a violin and marimba duo. Both ensembles have appeared at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in recent years. This passion for contemporary music also gained her an invitation to appear as guest soloist in the 6th Festival of Contemporary Music in South Korea in 2000.

Having freelanced with various orchestras throughout Britain for the last 10 years, Helen currently divides her time between teaching violin at Huddersfield University and on the PGCE/JSP course at the RNCM, a second violin job-share in the BBC Philharmonic, leading Bolton Symphony Orchestra, and occasional freelancing with Opera North and the Goldberg Ensemble. Helen has recently found some time to do more solo work, performing the Bruch violin concerto in Huddersfield Town Hall in July 2007 and more recently appearing in the Huddersfield University lunchtime concert series.

Ivor Hodgson
Composer in Residence

Ivor Hodgson was apoined as BSO's first Composer in Residence in January 2010.

Born in Carlisle, Ivor Hodgson studied Cello, Double Bass and composition at the Birmingham School of Music. After graduating in 1981, he joined the National Centre for Orchestral Studies, London University as principal Double Bass where he also studied composition with Dr Alan Bush. After leaving the National Centre for Orchestral Studies, he joined the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester and has been a member of this ensemble ever since.

Throughout his career, Ivor has written a great variety of music including works for string quartet, orchestra and brass band. In 2002, he arranged music for the British pop idols Will Young and Gareth Gates which was performed at the BBC Prom in the Park in Hyde Park and later shown on a BBC Television Christmas Special.

At the heart of his repertoire are six concertos. The Piano Concerto written for Peter Donohoe in 1992 was later recorded for BBC Radio 3 by Kathryn Stott and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. The Contra-Bassoon Concerto was written for Peter Wesley and the Chester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993 and 1996 saw the premier of an Accordion Concerto performed by the Russian virtuoso Oleg Sharov and the Manchester Camarata. "On a long walk back from Manchester", a Bassoon concerto was composed in 1998. His critically acclaimed Trombone Concerto premiered in Chester Cathedral in 2000 and was performed several times with Robert Holiday as soloist was recorded by the BBC Philharmonic in January 2002. Ivor's most recent concerto is the Trumpet Concerto premiered at the International Trumpet guild in Dallas in 2003 with the Dallas Wind Symphony and soloist Patrick Addinall.

The Composer in Residence role aims to reach a wide variety of audiences through a number of learning opportunities, integrated into all areas of the Orchestra’s events programme. These include workshops for adults and families, composition projects for schools and commissions for Bolton Symphony Orchestra.

In creating a Composer in Residence position, the Orchestra hopes to bring an understanding of the composition process to wider audiences and tobroaden the appeal of the existing music of the appointed Composer in Residence.

John Powell
Choral Director

John Powell's musical activities have always centred around choirs and singers and he now devotes his time to conducting, singing and teaching. Until 1988, he was Head of Choral Music at Chetham's School of Music. Then he taught singing at Bolton School and directed the school's Chamber Choir. He now teaches privately as well as being a tutor with the National Youth Choir and he is very active as a Festival adjudicator. John was for fifteen years Director of the Bolton Chamber Choir as well as a frequent Guest Conductor with Fleetwood Choral Society. His own chamber choir, the John Powell Singers, is heard regularly on BBC Radio. John also directs choral workshops and conducts Bolton Festival Choir and Bolton University Choir. As a performer, John sang with the BBC Northern Singers, the Britten Singers and currently sings with the BBC Daily Service Singers. John has a strong commitment to contemporary music and has been involved (both as singer and conductor) in numerous commissions. Several of his folksong arrangements for chamber choirs have recently been published.

John was appointed as BSO Choral Director in 2009.