WREXHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Mark Lansom – Violin/Conductor

Mark was taught the violin by Keith Dawber and Michael Gatward through the Clwyd Peripatetic Music Service, and by Krzysztof Smietana at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

He joined the Wrexham Orchestra in 1981 at the age of twelve, and subsequently the Clwyd Youth Orchestra, graduating to the North Wales Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.

In 1987 he moved to London to study Music at The City University, where he gained a BSc Hons degree. Whilst there, he chose to major in composition rather than violin. Studying with Simon Holt, his "String Quartet No.1" brought him favourable reviews from the Society for the Promotion of New Music. He also led the University Chamber Orchestra and was appointed conductor of the University Chamber Choir, his first conducting opportunity.

Whilst resident in London he played regularly for the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, British Youth Opera and the Young Musician's Symphony Orchestra, playing in all the major venues and under conductors such as Lord Menuhin, Sir Edward Downes, Jane Glover and Tamas Vasary.

In 1994, after receiving his teaching qualifications from London's Institute of Education, he returned to his native North Wales to take up a violin teaching post with the Clwyd Peripatetic Music Service - the very organisation which taught him. When Wrexham became a unitary authority Mark co-founded the Wrexham Schools String Ensemble, which, under his baton, has competed in and reached the finals of the National Festival of Music For Youth.

As an arranger and composer, he has written string and brass parts for pop bands, for the Harlequin String Quartet (in which he is a violinist) and for youth ensembles, including the Wrexham Schools String Ensemble and the Maelor School String Orchestra, which he also conducts.

Mark has now conducted the Wrexham Symphony Orchestra six times, most recently in November 2002 in a programme of Shostakovich, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Smetana and Mussorgsky.

November 2002

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