John Wilson becomes Help Musicians Ambassador
John is an esteemed conductor and the director of the Sinfonia of London
We are excited to announce that conductor John Wilson is our newest Help Musicians Ambassador, joining a cohort that incudes Chris Difford, Isata Kanneh-Mason and Soweto Kinch. Over a distinguished career, John has gained a reputation as one of the UKs leading conductors, arrangers and musicologists, and is the current artistic director of Sinfonia of London. We are delighted he has agreed to become a Help Musicians Ambassador.
John has been a conductor for as long as he can remember, having first picked up the baton in the mid-1980s. He grew up in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, and gained a musical grounding at school that set him up for study at the Royal College of Music. Initially he learned percussion but went on to study composition and conducting. During his time at the RCM he won the institution’s Tagore Gold Medal for outstanding academic excellence.
In the years since, his career has gone from strength to strength. He has conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, and regularly conducts BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
John is fiercely proud of the UK’s musical community, recognising not only their talent and versatility but dedication to their craft as well.
Perseverance is a greatly underrated quality. If you really want something and feel that it’s right for you, keep going and continue to pursue it. Of course there will be obstacles and hurdles along the way, whether that be hardship, injuries or the stress of coping with an injury. That’s where Help Musicians can be a real lifeline and offer amazing practical support to people who are temporarily out of music.
He is also a firm believer that access to music should be widened, not only at university level but in younger years as well. “Everybody should have the opportunity to study music. It’s crucial that music be on school curricula because that is how talented musicians are revealed and without that, we’re kind of sunk.
“For those who don’t become musicians, the fact that they’ve been introduced to music at an early age means they’re our future audience.”
As someone who relied on council grants for his musical education, John knows first-hand how vital music scholarships are. He recognises the great work being done by Help Musicians and other organisations to widen access but realises the need for more resources to support those musicians who wouldn’t otherwise be able to fund their studies and build a career.
“If we don’t make those resources available the number of people who have access to studying music at the highest level will shrink. It will be only for those who can afford it. We need to make sure that we have the resources in place to support these brilliant people.”
I’m very proud to be asked to be a Help Musicians Ambassador. It can be very precarious to earn a living as a musician and Help Musicians is a lifeline in times of need. I see it as an honour and a privilege to be asked to help in whatever small way I can.