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London International Orchestra of Academia

Conductors - Dominic Grier

Dominic Grier read music at the University of Cambridge and recently completed studies in conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, under the tuition of Colin Metters, Sir Colin Davis and George Hurst. While at Cambridge, Dominic held the position of Principal Conductor of the Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra, appearing regularly in Cambridge and London venues as well as on tour in Germany and Hungary. He also served as Chairman and Music Director of the University Opera Society, mounting productions of Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer.

He is currently Music Director of the Manfred Ensemble, a chamber orchestra specialising in the historically informed performances of nineteenth-century music, with which he recently completed a cycle of the Schumann symphonies in London.

Dominic has worked extensively within the Academy on various projects and has enjoyed a particularly close association with Royal Academy Opera, serving as both Music Director for a staging of the magic flute at the Clonter Opera Theatre in March 2005, and as Assistant Conductor to Sir Colin Davis and Nicholas Braithwaite. He has been particularly active in the field of contemporary music, and has given a number of world premiers of compositions by RAM students including Elspeth Brooke's Strobe with RAM Symphony Orchestra in January this year. He also directed a major concert in the RAM/South Bank Centre Sir Peter Maxwell Davies festival in 2005, which included a performance of Pierrot Lunaire. He served as Music Director of the Ashover Festival Orchestra in September 2005 and will be returning again this year to conduct concerts marking the festival's 25th anniversary.

In June 2005 and 2006, Dominic participated in the prestigious Orkney Conducting Course, receiving tuition from Martyn Brabbins, Charles Peebles and Sian Edwards, and leading repertoire sessions with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Nash and Paragon Ensembles.

Dominic is an experienced orchestral musician and singer, having held principal trumpet positions with the Bromley Youth Orchestra and various university orchestras and ensembles. He also gave lieder recitals while at Cambridge, and was a member of the Girton College Chapel Choir. His formal music education began after winning a scholarship as a cellist to the Centre for Young Musicians in London, and he subsequently studied piano, organ, trumpet singing and composition. He was a major prizewinner in the recent National Association of Youth Orchestras/Allianz Cornhill Conducting Competition.