Royal Northern Sinfonia - Steven Hudson
The Richardson Family Chair
Steven was born and raised in North Yorkshire and in 2002 accepted an offer to study at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Gordon Hunt and Richard Simpson. He graduated in July 2006 with a First Class Honours Degree and winner of the Needlemakers woodwind prize. He went on to study further at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with David Walter, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music where he graduated with distinction and winner of the RCM oboe prize. During this time he was also a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra.
Since his appointment as Section Leader Oboe of Royal Northern Sinfonia, Steven has established himself as one of the UK’s most dynamic and in demand oboists. Recent highlights have included performances of C.P.E Bach’s Oboe Concerto conducted by Thomas Zehetmair and a tour of Brazil as soloist in Albinoni’s Oboe Concerto in D minor under the direction of Olli Mustonen.
He has also appeared as soloist in Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto recorded live for Classic FM at Sage Gateshead, the Strauss Oboe Concerto with Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Clemens Schuldt and Michael Berkeley’s Oboe Concerto at the Ryedale Festival. He recently directed John Tavener’s Kaleidoscopes from the oboe with the Royal Northern Sinfonia strings, and has made appearances with the London Concertante and London Mozart Players.
An active chamber musician, Steven has given recitals and chamber music performances across the North East as well as at the BBC Proms, China and South America. Steven is regularly invited to appear at Lars Vogt’s Spannungen Chamber Music Festival in Germany where he has collaborated with artists such as Christian Tetzlaff and Sharon Kam, broadcast live on German radio.
In a performance of the Bach Oboe and Violin Concerto in Edinburgh, The Scotsman described Hudson as ‘wonderfully expressive’ and ‘the combination of oboe and violin was magical, especially as Hudson rolled out what seemed like longer and longer phrases without apparently drawing breath.’
Aside from his commitments with RNS Steven has a busy orchestral schedule and regularly plays guest principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, John Wilson Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Steven teaches at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and has also given classes at the Royal College of Music and Sage Gateshead. In 2017 he was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his services to music.
In his spare time he enjoys singing, running and walking the coast of Northumberland.