Making waves and stepping in, conductor James Feddeck

James Feddeck - credit Benjamin Ealovega

The young American conductor James Feddeck (just 32 and a former assistant conductor at the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra) won the Solti Conducting Award in 2013. Since then he has made a name for himself, notably stepping in at the last moment to conduct the Halle in April 2015 in Mozart and Beethoven (The Guardian said he stepped in "to salvage the concert with style and steel" and is "a conductor to watch"). He also stepped in with the San Francisco Symphony, making his debut conducting Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 to great acclaim.

For the 2015/16 season Feddeck will be returning to the UK to conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on 13 April 2016 at Birmingham Symphony Hall in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, with Michael Collins as soloist, and Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. There is a chance to hear him in action before then as he will be conducting the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on 9 October 2015, in Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with Alexei Volodin, Hindemith's Mathis der Mahler Symphony and Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier Suite.