John’s biggest audience was 24,000 at a City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra outdoor concert where he not only conducted but also compered “off the cuff” an evening of music inspired by sport. John has conducted the RPO many times including the first Classic FM “Hall of Fame” concert. He has given concerts with the LPO, Ulster Orchestra and recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia. He has also worked with the Portugeuse Symphony Orchestra, the Georges Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest and the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Worthing Symphony Orchestra – for whom John has been Principal Conductor for over ten years – has been earning much critical plaudits recently for their top quality performances in the acoustically stunning Assembly Hall, central Worthing. Their 2011 season included a performance of the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti as well as the World Premiere of William Alwyn’s Flute Concerto in the orchestration by composer John McCabe who attended the performance given with soloist Philippa Davies.
John is a passionate advocate of British music and has performed many rare British works with both Worthing Symphony Orchestra and Ealing Symphony Orchestra. ESO and John are over half-way through a complete cycle of the Malcolm Arnold symphonies and gave a rare performance of William Alwyn’s Third Symphony in May 2011.