Dominic Peckham is regarded as one of the UK’s finest young, dynamic orchestral and choral conductors. Hailed as ‘one of the most exciting conductors of his generation’, Peckham has been commended at home and abroad for his ‘freshness and vitality’ directing both orchestras and choirs whilst delivering ‘gutsy, raw and exciting performances’. A conductor of immense energy and focus, Peckham is renowned for his dedication to the Renaissance and Baroque era, whilst also passionate about the delivery of new works and inspirational collaborations.
Peckham has been commended by reviewers as ‘a lithe and modern Handelian...and ‘a latent star…’. He has worked with orchestras including BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, British Federation of Youth Orchestras, Scottish Opera and has marked his debut at the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Usher Hall, Bridgewater Hall and Wigmore Hall. In addition, he has prepared performances for contemporary conductors Stephane Deneve, Richard Hickox OBE, Bernard Labadie, Edward Gardner, Simon Halsey, David Hill, Christopher Bell, Vassily Sinaisky, Sir David Willcocks, Lorin Maazel, Stefan Bevier and John Rutter.
In addition to his new appointment of The London Oriana Choir, Peckham holds an impressive array of posts including Artistic Director of The Royal Opera House’s ‘RM19’ Youth Chorus, Assistant Music Director of The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Artistic Director and Founder of iSingUK, Artistic Director of The Fourth Choir, Director of The Ulster Youth Training Choir and Guest Conductor for Aldeburgh Music.
An ambassador for choral music of international renown through both performance and his extensive pioneering educational work, Peckham has served as Vocal Director for the BBC Choir of the Year, as a consultant of Trinity Guildhall’s teaching programme and as a guest speaker for ‘Sing Up’. Peckham’s previous conducting positions include Musical Director of The Edinburgh Singers (with whom he recorded extensively), The Merchant Voices, and Edinburgh Youth Choir, Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Youth Chorus and Guest Musical Director of the National Youth Training Choir of Scotland.
Keen to promote and support new music, Peckham has conducted several world premieres, notably Oliver Searle’s ‘Pride, Poverty and Pianos’ for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. As a talented composer and arranger himself, Peckham’s most recent premières include works with The National Youth Jazz Collective and The National Choir of Great Britain at the Barbican.
Recent engagements include the 2013 Deloitte Ignite Festival with the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus at The Royal Opera House, a critically acclaimed recording of Benjamin Britten’s Choral and Organ works entitled ‘A Festival of Britten’ on Delphian Records (for which Peckham was hailed for his ‘decisive direction’, ‘Friday Afternoons’ for Aldeburgh Music at No.11 Downing Street, a live broadcast with The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain Chamber Choir for BBC Radio 3’s ‘The Choir’ from Sage Gateshead, The 2013 Brighton Early Music Festival and a special broadcast for BBC World Service focusing vocal harmonies across the world. Peckham has also led a sell-out workshop at the 2014 London A Cappella Festival at Kings Place.
Future engagements include: The ‘Big Sings’ for The Royal Opera House, ‘Shadow Dancing’ at Birmingham Town Hall, ‘Bright Sparks’ for The London Philharmonic Orchestra at The Royal Festival Hall, Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ and a new commission by Toby Young with The London Mozart Players at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, performances of British Choral Icons in Parnu and Tallinn, Estonia, the world premiers of ten new Friday Afternoon Commissions for The Aldeburgh Festival 2014 and Jubilee Opera and Peckham will take the position of Resident Tutor at the London A Cappella International Summer School. This spring, Peckham marks his debut as Guest Chorus Master of English National Opera in the world premier of Julian Anderson’s ‘Thebans’ at The London Coliseum.
