George Vass, conductor
Described by BBC Radio 3 as ‘the saviour of contemporary classical music’ and having commissioned over 300 new works, English conductor George Vass studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Music; he was appointed Music Director of the Bushey Symphony Orchestra in 1985.
Vass made his professional conducting debut at St John’s Smith Square, London in 1979. As Artistic Director of the Regent Sinfonia of London and more recently Orchestra Nova, he has appeared at many of the UK’s major concert halls and festivals.
He has conducted leading ensembles including the BBC Symphony, BBC NOW, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Bournemouth Symphony and Ulster orchestras, as well as international groups such as the Malmö Opera Orchestra, together with leading choral groups including the Choir of Royal Holloway, Choir of King’s London, Merton College Oxford, the Bath Camerata and Schola Cantorum Oxford.
Founder Artistic Director of Nova Music Opera, he premiered Thomas Hyde’s That Man Stephen Ward (Hampstead and Highgate Festival, 2008; revival, Nova Music Opera, 2015) and, for Nova Music Opera, new chamber operas including: Sally Beamish Hagar in the Wilderness (2013), Stephen McNeff Prometheus Drown’d (2014), Cecilia McDowall Airborne (2014), Charlotte Bray Entanglement (2015), Joseph Phibbs Juliana (2018), Britten/Luke Styles Awakening Shadow (2021), Julian Philips Looking West (2022) and Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade Scenes from Under Milk Wood (2025). He has also conducted Britten Curlew River (Hampstead and Highgate Springfest, 2009; Nova Music Opera, 2013) and Holst Savitri (Nova Music, English Music Festival, 2010).
A dedicated champion of new music, he received a BASCA Gold Badge (2017) and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Leslie Boosey Award (2025) for his tireless work support championing new music and supporting living composers.
Committed to community music-making, Vass is Music Director of the Bushey Symphony Orchestra and often collaborates with other groups including the Blaze Ensemble and Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra.
His extensive discography spans British chamber opera, orchestral and choral music on labels including BIS, Lyrita, Naxos, SOMM and Resonus Classics. Releases in 2025 include Cecilia McDowall Cantatas with the Choir of Royal Holloway and Orchestra Nova, British piano concertos with Clare Hammond and the BBC SO and works by Henriëtte Bosmans with Gemma Rosefield and Benjamin Nabarro and the BBC Philharmonic.
Vass is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, was recipient of the 2018 BAFA Exceptional Service Award and the Welsh Music Guild’s 2013 John Edwards Memorial Award for services to Welsh Music. He serves the Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain as a governor.
Martin Smith leader
Martin Smith was an Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music Junior Department and a scholarship winner at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied violin and conducting. He began his career as a member of the Duke String Quartet, appearing with them throughout Britain and Europe. He currently performs with the Cirrus String Quartet and the Primavera Ensemble. With Cirrus he has just released a CD of previously unrecorded works by the distinguished violinist and composer W H Reed, a friend of Elgar.
Martin has worked with many of the country’s foremost chamber orchestras, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the English Chamber Orchestra; he has been a member of the London Mozart Players for many years, and is currently one of the Directors of the orchestra. He also leads New London Sinfonia and Orchestra Nova, and has appeared widely as guest leader and guest principal. With Orchestra Nova he has led many premières and première recordings of music by British composers. He has made solo appearances around the UK and also in France, Germany, Holland and the United States.
Martin also has a career as a conductor. He has appeared with the London Mozart Players, and has led orchestral workshops for them and for ESTA. He was appointed conductor and artistic director of Enfield Chamber Orchestra in 2008 and of the Richmond Orchestra in 2016, and is increasingly in demand as a guest conductor.