Meet the Conductors

Michael Seal - Assistant CBSO Conductor

Read an interview with Michael Seal here

In May 2005, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra announced it was to appoint Michael Seal as its Assistant Conductor, the first in its history.  Michael had conducted the CBSO in a number of performances previously, and impressed audiences, critics and the Orchestra alike when he stood in for the CBSO’s Music Director, Sakari Oramo, at extremely short notice in December 2004, producing a dramatic interpretation of the world premiere of Richard Causton’s Between Two Waves of the Sea and conducting the CBSO’s Benevolent Fund concert.

Michael Seal was born in London in 1970. He started learning the violin at the age of 9, going on to study at the Birmingham Conservatoire and joining the CBSO in September 1992. It was whilst studying at the Birmingham Conservatoire that Michael first started conducting, learning with Jonathan Del Mar.

In 1996, he conducted his first concert with the Birmingham Philharmonic in Walsall. Since then Michael has conducted them yearly in performances including Shostakovich Symphonies 7 and 10. Berlioz  Symphonie Fantastique and Walton Symphony No.1, in venues such as Lichfield, Shrewsbury, Leominster and Birmingham.

Michael has been Principal conductor of the Sinfonia of Birmingham since 2002, frequently performing concerti with CBSO members and leading them on  highly successful tours of the Rhine and Mosel valleys in April 2002, Tuscany in April 2004 and Holland in 2006. Michael has also conducted the Midland Concert Orchestra in highly acclaimed performances at Dudley Town Hall as well as Birmingham Schools Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham University Symphony Orchestra.

His links with the CBSO, apart from having coaching from their Music Director, Sakari Oramo, have included Schools and Family concerts, giving a performance of Lutoslawski “Chain 1” in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, appearing with the CBSO on 3 separate occasions at the Aldeburgh Festival, recording tracks for the promotional CD “Classic Discoveries”, as well as recording tracks for the CBSO website.

During the first year of his three year tenure as Assistant Conductor, Michael conducted two Family concerts, a Schools concert and led the CBSO during Artsfest in Centenary Square. He also conducted them in a Matinee concert, a Friday night concert featuring the music of Mohammed Rafi and concerts in Aldeburgh and Wolverhampton.  He made his debut with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducting two concerts in June 2007.

Future engagements include repeat visits to the Birmingham Phiharmonic and Sinfonia of Birmingham as well his next evening concerts with the CBSO in January and March 2008.

Simon Halsey
Chorus Director: City of Birmingham Symphony Choruses

Simon Halsey - Chorus DirectorSimon Halsey is one of the world's leading conductors of choral repertoire, regularly conducting prestigious orchestras and choirs both in Europe and North America. He has been Chorus Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus for over 25 years and is Chief Conductor of the Berlin Radio Choir. He is Artistic Director and founder of the dynamic professional choir European Voices, formed at the invitation of Sir Simon Rattle and is in his fifth season as Principal Conductor, Choral Programme for The Sage Gateshead. Halsey also holds the position of consultant editor for Faber Music in the UK.

As chorus master Simon Halsey has formed close partnerships with conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Edo de Waart, Valery Gergiev, Riccardo Chailly, Marek Janowski, Sakari Oramo, Kent Nagano, Claudio Abbado and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Halsey regularly conducts major choral projects with some of the world's greatest orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony and Minnesota Orchestra.

Highlights of the 2008-9 include conducting the German premiere of James Macmillan's St John Passion with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. He will also conduct the Berlin Radio Choir in two performances of Jost's Angst and prepare them for performances of Ligeti's Lux aeterna with Metzmacher, Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with Rattle and Mahler's Lieder aus Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Abbado. In the UK Halsey will once again conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's annual Christmas Concerts at Birmingham's Symphony Hall as well as the popular sing-along concert, this year of Mozart's Requiem. Halsey will also travel with the orchestra to Cuenca, Spain to conduct a programme that includes works by Szymanowski and Finzi. With the Northern Sinfonia Halsey will conduct a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah as well as their popular annual Christmas concerts. The season also sees Halsey conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra in a performance of the Messiah and the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus will join the Phliharmonia for two concerts of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder with Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Halsey has worked on countless major recording projects, many of which have won major awards including several Gramophone Awards and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2008 Halsey received a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for the recording of Brahms' Requiem with Berliner Philarmoniker and Rattle. As conductor, recent releases include three new discs recorded with the Berlin Radio Choir: XL, a disc of choral music including works by Tallis, J.S Bach, Kodály and Harvey recorded on Harmonia Mundi, as well as Christian Jost's Angst and Simple Gifts, featuring works by Britten, Copland, Barber and Tippett, both on the Coviello label. With the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus Halsey has recorded Julian Anderson's Four American Choruses for NMC and English Choral Favourites for EMI.

Recent releases as Chorus Master include Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms / Rattle for EMI with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Mahler Das klagende Lied with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic on their own label, QuattroLive, and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Oramo with Rundfunkchor Berlin, Groot Omroepkoor, and City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus respectively. Other landmark recordings include Beethoven's 9th Symphony on EMI, in a live recording with the the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and Vienna Philharmonic/Rattle, and Mahler's 2nd Symphony with CBSO/Rattle/Janet Baker and Arleen Augér on EMI.