Benjamin Pope

A conductor and composer with vast experience in all styles of music, Benjamin Pope has conducted orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic and Hallé Orchestras, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Berlin Staatskapelle, Tokyo Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, Osaka Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Lahti Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Orchestras of RTÉ and BBC, Britten Sinfonia, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, as well as many other orchestras in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Japan, USA, South Korea.  He has toured to Jamaica and Africa with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and worldwide with The Royal Ballet.   A hugely experienced conductor for dance, Benjamin was named Music Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 2011, and conducted for the company at La Fenice, Venice, at the Edinburgh International Festival, and conducted Britten at the centenary Aldeburgh Festival in the Maltings, Snape; he was named Music Consultant of Hong Kong Ballet in 2016.  He has received return invitations to work with companies throughout the world including The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, Semperoper Ballett, Dutch National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Staatsballett Berlin, Norwegian National Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Scottish Ballet, English National Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Northern Ballet, Rambert Dance Company.  A long-time collaborator with Matthew Bourne and AMP/New Adventures, Benjamin worked on the world premiere run of “The Red Shoes” where he conducted the music of Bernard Herrmann, he has also conducted multiple productions of Swan Lake, Nutcracker and Highland Fling and was Music Director for The Car Man, Edward Scissorhands, and Play Without Words, for which he directed Terry Davies’ jazz score from the piano in the UK and Los Angeles.

He has conducted many of the major works for chorus and orchestra, including the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart and Faure in New York and London, The Dream of Gerontius, Carmina Burana, Elijah, Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms, and the Christmas Oratorio among many others. Operatic highlights include works by Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, Mozart, Rossini.

His work as a composer, arranger and vocalist encompasses works for concert, stage, and screen, including scores for feature film, short film, and television.  Recent commissions include his arrangements of Respighi’s major orchestral works for Hong Kong Ballet’s Pinocchio and Cole Porter for Elsa Canasta, featuring in the programmes of Scottish Ballet, Charlotte Ballet and Rambert Dance Company.  Many of his arrangements have been commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for concert performances including recent dates at London’s O2 arena.  He has been Music Director on the scores for many TV programmes including the BBC flagship series “Walking With Dinosaurs” and “Walking With Beasts”.

Benjamin is currently Music Consultant for Hong Kong Ballet, and the current season’s plans include many returns to the Dresden Staatskapelle in multiple performances in many separate productions including a world premiere, returns to Hong Kong, Japan, and Scotland, debuts in Charlotte in the USA,  Austria, Germany and Turkey, further concert appearances with the RPO in the UK, and commissions for compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations.

Benjamin is a prize-winning alumnus of Oxford University and The Royal College of Music.  He is also a Griffindor, and his Patronus is a dophin.