Skip to page content

Visit Salford

Stephen Bell

Stephen Bell

Stephen Bell will be returning to Buile Hill Park for the third year running to conduct the BBC Philharmonic at this years BBC Proms in the Park in Salford.

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Stephen Bell studied conducting at the Royal College of Music under the renowned conductor Norman Del Mar, before taking up the position of Principal French horn with the BBC Concert Orchestra. In more recent years, Stephen has found himself increasingly in demand as a conductor for a wide variety of European orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic, ERT National Symphonic Orchestra (Athens), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic and Ulster Orchestra. A progressively challenging conducting schedule now affords Stephen the opportunity to conduct both at home and abroad, in venues such as Istanbul, Toronto, Athens and London. 

Stephen also has extensive broadcasting experience, frequently conducting orchestras such as the RPO, Hallé, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra for BBC Radio, Classic FM and BBC television. In 2009, he was appointed Artistic Director of the City of Oxford Orchestra.

His diverse repertoire, versatility and aptitude for communication with audiences of all genres, has led to exciting conducting projects with an eclectic range of artists from Guy Johnston, Xeufei Yang, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Mark Simpson, Stephen Hough and the BBC Singers, to Katie Melua, Alfie Boe, Tony Hadley, Natasha Marsh, Chris De Burgh, Hayley Westenra and G4.

Since 2005, Stephen has conducted the annual televised BBC Proms in the Park with the BBC Philharmonic, and the highly successful 2008 Doctor Who Prom represented his Royal Albert Hall Proms début. A busy 2010 / 2011 season includes further engagements conducting orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic, Hallé, London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Southbank Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Concert Orchestra, London Gala Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic, Manchester Concert Orchestra, Guildford Philharmonic and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

For further details, please visit www.stephenbell.info