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The English conductor, Christopher Seaman, is the son of Albert Edward Seaman and Ethel Margery Seaman. He was educated at Canterbury Cathedral Choir School and The King's School, Canterbury, and later studied at King's College, Cambridge.
From 1964 to 1968, Christopher Seaman was principal timpanist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, before his appointment from 1968 to 1970 as assistant conductor with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He later served as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 's principal conductor, from 1971 to 1977. He has also held the position of Principal Conductor with the Northern Sinfonia, and the post of Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor to the conducting course at the Guildhall School of Music. He has has also worked regularly with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Ulster Orchestra, as well as all of the London orchestras, and the various BBC orchestras.
In the USA, Christopher Seaman was Conductor-in-Residence with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (New York) from 1987 to 1998. From 1993 to 2004, he was Music Director of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, in Florida. Since 1998, Seaman has been Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2007, Seaman extended his Rochester contract through 2011. In this post he has attracted much attention for raising the artistic level, broadening the audience base and creating a new concert series - a contribution that was recently recognized in the form of a programming award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). In May 2009, the University of Rochester made Christopher Seaman an Honorary Doctor of Music, acknowledging his extraordinary leadership in music as a renowned conductor, accomplished recording artist, gifted teacher and community performing arts partner. In October 2009, the orchestra announced the conclusion of Seaman's tenure as director with the 2010-2011 season, and his lifetime appointment as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. In January 2008 he was also appointed Artistic Advisor of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, through the 2009-2010 season. In North Amereica he has enjoyed guest conducting engagements with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Colorado, Columbus, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Utah Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has been a welcome guest at the Aspen Music Festival for many years. His recent and upcoming USA engagements include the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Omaha, Columbus and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras.
Sought-after as a guest conductor throughout the world, Christopher Seaman has appeared also with orchestras in Israel, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. In Europe, he has appeared regularly with orchestras such as the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, and Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, highlights have included the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Het Brabants Orkest, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Nacional de Porto, where he will return in 2011. He will also appear with the Prague Radio Symphony on a regular basis from 2010-2011. He frequently visits Australia and Asia, and has conducted the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Orchestra. This season (2009-2010) he will conduct the Auckland Philharmonia and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and he will return to Melbourne in 2012.
Christopher Seaman makes a point of encouraging young talent. As part of his commitment to training young musicians, he holds the post of Chief Guest Conductor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In the 2002-2003 season, in addition to working with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he spent a ten-day teaching residency at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School. As a result of the success of his master-classes with Symphony Australia, he was invited to take the post of Conducting Course Director, which was previously held by Jorma Panula. In this post he is devoting a number of weeks every summer to teaching and directing training programs for young conductors. He has also had a long association with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.
Christopher Seaman has conducted recordings with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Delius, Philharmonia Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In 1990 he collaborated with Anne Akiko Meyers and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a recording of the Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto and the Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Recently, he has released a recording of works by Tchaikovsky with pianist Olga Kern, as well as a recording of works by Sergei Rachmaninov with Jon Nakamatsu, both for the Harmonia Mundi label. Both of these recordings were performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and received considerable critical acclaim. |
