Wayne Marshall travels worldwide as a conductor, virtuoso organist and solo pianist. A renowned interpreter of Gershwin, Bernstein, Ellington and other 20th century American composers, he became Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in September 2007. Appearances as guest conductor have included many UK orchestras as well as Accademia di Santa Cecilia, RAI Torino, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Radio, Swedish Radio, Sydney Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Maggio Musicale. Recent highlights have included 'West Side Story' (Bregenz) and 'Porgy and Bess' (BBC Proms, Bregenz, Washington, Dall and Paris). Organist-in-residence at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, he has played in many of the world's top recital venues.
Wayne Marshall was born in the UK and, after musical studies there and in Vienna, swiftly established an international reputation as organist and pianist. He is now also in great demand as conductor and became Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi in September 2007. He has been Organist-in Residence of Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall since its opening in 1996. Other activities include improvisation, jazz, radio and television presenting and composition, and his setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis is published in the ‘Faber New Choral Works’ series.
His extensive guest conducting has included many orchestras, such as BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Hallé, Northern Sinfonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Vienna Symphony and Radio, RAI Turin, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Swedish Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de Belgique, Berliner Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony, Norddeutscher Rundfunkorchester, Flemish Radio Symphony and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Highlights of recent seasons have included the Dresden Philharmonic, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Dallas Opera and Opéra Comique (Porgy and Bess 2007/8), Swedish Radio Orchestra and Maggio Musicale. Plans for the current season and beyond include returns to Vienna Radio Symphony, RAI Turin, Santa Cecilia, Liege Phil, Dresden Phil, Monte Carlo Phil, Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo, Naples as well as his regular concert and touring commitments with Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.
As organ soloist he draws on an exceptionally large and varied repertoire, particularly favouring the French Romantics, and has given recitals all over the world including the inaugural organ recital in the new Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles. Recent recitals have included National Grand Theatre, Beijing; De Doelen Hall, Rotterdam; Vienna Konzerthaus; Berlin Konzerthaus; Kimmel Center, Philadelphia; Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw; Washington National Cathedral; Luxembourg Philharmonie; Moscow Performing Arts Centre; Notre Dame, Paris; Esplanade, Singapore; National Concert Hall, Taipei; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; and Westminster Abbey. Forthcoming appearances include returns to Hamburg, Vienna, Luxembourg and the Royal Albert Hall, London.
As pianist/director and organ soloist he has appeared with many of the orchestras above as well as Dallas, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver Symphony orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic (including the World Premiere of James MacMillan’s organ concerto, A Scotch Bestiary), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Munich Radio Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado.
He collaborates regularly with Kim Criswell, the eminent singing actress, in both recital and orchestral projects. The duo has appeared widely in Europe, and orchestral projects with her over the last few seasons have included Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orchestra, and concert versions of Wonderful Town with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and at the Bregenz Festival.
He has appeared at the BBC Proms on a number of occasions. These have included his Proms conducting debut with Porgy and Bess in the Gershwin centenary year; as a soloist for the 1997 Last Night of the Proms; Prom in the Park; the UK premiere of MacMillan’s Organ Concerto in 2005; the First Night in 2008 and conducting the Belfast Prom in the Park in 2009.
He has recorded extensively for EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, Philips Classics, Chandos, Delos and Blue Note. Notable releases as conductor/pianist include two highly-praised Gershwin discs with Aalborg Symphony and his recordings of piano with orchestra include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Second Rhapsody; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra/Mauceri; Grainger with CBSO/Rattle; Saint-Saëns’ Third (Organ) Symphony with Oslo Philharmonic/Jansons; Bernstein with CBSO/Paavo Järvi; BBC Big Band. Solo piano releases include I Got Rhythm and Gershwin Song Book, and organ releases include solo recital CDs, among them his own vivid organ transcriptions Get Organised and a trumpet/organ duo recording with Ole Edvard Antonsen.
He appeared as pianist and conductor in the 1998 Victoires de la Musique awards with the Orchestre de Paris and in the same year received the BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Artist of the Year’ award and an ECHO (Deutscher Schallplattenpreis 1998) award for his ‘Gershwin Songbook’ CD. In 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Bournemouth University in recognition of his many superb collaborations with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In May 2010 Wayne Marshall became a Fellow of the Royal College. The prestigious honour was awarded by HRH Prince of Wales in recognition of Marshall’s achievements.
