Conductors and Leader

Musical Director: Robin Browning 

Robin Browning enjoys a busy conducting career both here and abroad. He is currently music director of five orchestras – Southampton University Symphony Orchestra, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, Petersfield Orchestra, Essex Youth Orchestra and De Havilland Philharmonic (resident at the University of Hertfordshire). Robin also conducts the professional Chelmsford Sinfonietta, and is highly committed to training younger musicians, guest-conducting with orchestras at both Trinity College and Guildhall School of Music. Last year, Robin was involved in the Barbican Young Orchestra project, alongside Peter Stark & Sir Colin Davis.

Since making his debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Barbican in 1996 (which was broadcast on Classic FM), Robin has conducted the Hallé, English Northern Philharmonia, Northern Sinfonia, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, St Petersburg Festival Orchestra and the Ensemble Intercontemporain. He took second prize in the NAYO Conducting Competition in 1994, and won the inaugural Boosey & Hawkes Award at the Edinburgh Festival the following year. Robin has been assistant conductor to Mark Elder with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Benjamin Zander with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

In recent seasons Robin has given concerts in some of the world’s most famous concert halls, including Snape Maltings, London’s Cadogan Hall, the Rudolfinum in Prague, and the Banff Centre in Canada. In 2008, Robin performed at the Olympic Stadium, Nanjing, conducting live on Chinese television in front of an audience of 70 million. He has worked with a wide array of soloists, including Lynne Dawson, Gordon Hunt, Guy Johnston, Aled Jones, Craig Ogden, Ronan O’Hora, Charles Owen, Ruth Palmer, Jennifer Pike, Stephen Stirling and Raphael Wallfisch.

Robin studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, with Myung-Whun Chung and the legendary Russian pedagogue Ilya Musin. He subsequently studied in the USA with Joseph Gifford. He was recently invited to the David Oistrakh Festival in Pärnu, Estonia, for masterclasses and concerts with Neeme Järvi and Paavo Järvi. Robin has enjoyed periods of study with Charles Mackerras, Sian Edwards, Mark Elder, Markus Stenz and Benjamin Zander. He is also increasingly in demand as a teacher, being passionately committed to the training of young conductors. He works with students at both the University of Southampton and the University of Hertfordshire, as well as privately.

2008 saw the release of Robin’s first professional studio-recording, of music by John Hopkins. A second CD, of ceremonial brass music, has just been released. In May 2009, he recorded Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale with Paul Benniston and members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Future plans include a sequence of Mahler performances (including Das Lied von der Erde, and the 7th and 9th symphonies), and a return to the studio, recording music by Raymond Warren. 

Assistant Conductor: Harriet Oughton

Harriet Oughton is currently studying conducting with Robin Browning as a performance course within her music degree. She has also played piano and clarinet since the age of eight and bass, saxophone and flute since the age of fifteen. Previous concert performances include the Albert Hall, the Barbican Centre, the Royal Festival Hall, St. John’s, Smith Square, the CBSO centre and tours of France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

As well as classical conducting, Harriet has been working as a Musical Director for stage productions over the last six years. Previously directed shows include Little Shop of Horrors, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Anything Goes and Alphabet Soup. Primarily, Harriet is a passionate and driven composer, who had her first professional commission, a musical for the Nuffield Youth Theatre, (Missing Since Monday) earlier this year, and she musically directed the week of performances. Harriet has also composed the music for a charity musical (Lost and Found 2007), composed or arranged music for a number of plays (Peter Pan 07/08, Secret Heart 2008, Aladdin 2008/09) and several prize-winning indepedent films (Belle and the Blind 2008, Canned Music 2009, Interior Design 2009, A Night at the Ritz 2009, Frozen Bamboo (post-production)).

Currently, Harriet is employed as Musical Director for the Nuffield Theatre Company’s three-month pantomime run The Wind in the Willows.

Leader: Alice Plant 

Alice Plant is 20 years old and currently in her third year studying Medicine at the University of Southampton.  Music has always been an integral part of Alice’s life.  She started playing the violin at the age of 5, the flute at 6 and the piano at 7.  During her school days, she played both descant and treble recorders and also sang, acted and danced in many productions and concerts.  Mozart’s Concerto in D for violin, Ernst Bloc’s Nigun and Bach’s Concerto in A minor for violin, are her major solo performances.  At Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School and then at The Judd School, Tonbridge, Alice was involved in countless music events, concerts, chamber music competitions and much more.  She has played in concerts all over Kent with Kent County Youth Orchestra, Kent Youth Chamber Orchestra, Kent Schools Orchestra, Benenden Summer School and various gigs with her quartet.  2003 saw her tour to Mauritius with fellow Kent musicians, at the invitation of the British Embassy, to play for local television and the High Commissioner. 

In 2001, she was presented with BBC Radio Kent’s Developing Musician Award, at the Children’s Promenade Concert at Leeds Castle and also received the Maidstone Friends of Music Prize.  She led and managed a Kent Charity orchestra for 6 years, taking the orchestra to Paris to play at La Madeleine and Saint Sulpice and, in addition, tours to the Edinburgh Festival.  After 8 years of Saturday school with Kent Music Academy, studying violin, flute and piano, Alice now continues her orchestral playing at university, she is a founder member of the Medics Choir and is currently in her third run with the Medics Review Band.  She can be spotted busking in Southampton with her quartet too when she can find time!