Royal Northern Sinfonia - Bradley Creswick
The Huntington Chair
Bradley Creswick has a long association with Royal Northern Sinfonia going back to 1984 when he was first appointed leader.
His musical life then, as now, was amazingly rich and varied, providing some personal highlights such as the EMI recording of Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Concerto Accademico with Richard Hickox, performing Prokofiev’s Concerto No.2 for Radio 3 and recording all the Handel Op.6 Concerti Grossi with George Malcolm. More recent recordings include: Handel Concerti Grossi Op.3 for Naxos and the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola by Mozart with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
In 1987 Bradley moved to London to lead the Philharmonia, still maintaining his relationship with the Sinfonia, making guest appearances, notably as soloist with them in the 1989 BBC Proms playing The Lark Ascending.
The London years continued as leader of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House before taking the opportunity, in 1994, to return to the Sinfonia and the North East for a second time. Working at Sage Gateshead now provides the chance to play with an even greater variety of musicians, such as James Crabb and Bruce Molsky.
Recently, Bradley has been invited twice to Marlboro Music Festival in America and is asked regularly to guest lead a wide range of orchestras. Playing with friends is a vibrant part of life and he relishes the chance to play with the pianist Margaret Fingerhut, giving recitals around the country; and has occasionally been heard playing western swing fiddle ‘back home’.