Alex Mackinder
Conductor
Born and raised in London, Alex Mackinder graduated from the Royal College of Music with an MMus (Distinction) in Orchestral Conducting, where he studied under Toby Purser, Peter Stark, Howard Williams and Martyn Brabbins, having previously received an MA (Distinction) in Classics at Durham University, where he won the student-peer-chosen Lifetime Achievement in Music and Theatre Award. He has participated in masterclasses led by Vasily Petrenko, Jac van Steen and Rüdiger Bohn, and has received tuition and advice from other eminent conductors including Andrew Davies, Ryan Bancroft, Sakari Oramo, Timothy Burke, Adrian Brown and Ben Palmer. Recent engagements include working alongside Antonio Pappano with the RCM
Symphony Orchestra, conducting the off-stage brass in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1; assisting Ryan Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in works by Schumann and Mahler; and a return to work with young musicians at Pigott’s Junior Music Camp on Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, whilst forthcoming engagements in 2025 include an appearance at the Seaford Music Festival. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Sirius Orchestra, an orchestra that seeks to bring students from all of London’s major music conservatoires together and provide extra-curricular music-making and networking opportunities to assist their transition
into the professional sphere. Past concerts have featured Haydn’s The Creation, Strauss’ Metamorphosen, Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, Beamish’s Saxophone Concerto No. 2 and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht whilst forthcoming performances this season will include Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 and Atterberg’s rarely heard Symphony No. 8. Other musical interests include a long- standing passion for musical theatre and barbershop harmony; he is the Founder of Durham University’s award winning barbershop chorus, Full Score, and was worked as an Assistant Musical Director for the London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s ‘Sitz’ of Hello, Dolly!; next year, he is delighted to be collaborating with Monday at the Musicals, an initiative that seeks to raise money for Cancer research alongside Children With Cancer UK and Trekstock.