Ben Gernon announced as BBC Philharmonic Principal Guest Conductor

Ben Gernon will be announced as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, during
a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from MediaCity UK on 31 January. He will formally take up
the position in Autumn 2017.

The announcement is no surprise to those who have witnessed the rapport that the young
British conductor, aged 27, has built up with the orchestra over recent seasons, conducting
core repertoire as well as The Red Brick Sessions, an innovative collaboration between the
BBC Philharmonic, University of Salford, BBC North and BBC Research and Development.
Gernon has already appeared twice at the BBC Proms, most recently in 2014, to mark the 80th birthday of former BBC Philharmonic Composer/Conductor Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. In 2013 Gernon won the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductor’s Award and in the same year became a Dudamel Fellow with the LA Philharmonic leading to several important and ongoing engagements with US orchestras including the LAPO and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is a regular guest conductor of UK orchestras, and is working increasingly across Europe, and in opera.

Praised for his effortless authority on the podium Gernon started his musical life as a tuba
player in his local brass band conducted by his father. He went on to study tuba and
conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Patrick Harrild and Sian Edwards
respectively, and also cites Sir Colin Davis as a profoundly important figure in his musical
development.