Conductor
Born in London, Rory Storm is a conductor whose repertoire ranges from early baroque to contemporary music, both within and beyond the classical spectrum. Since beginning to conduct in his youth orchestra, he has given concerts with his own orchestras in London and Manchester, and with ensembles including Northern Ballet Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata and BBC Philharmonic. His projects range from the Western canon through to numerous concert premieres, operas, jazz and experimental electronic music.
In February 2024, Rory conducted the first ever recording of Paul Bowles' last major work with the English Chamber Orchestra. An opera based on Lorca's play, Yerma will be released later this year.
Preceding this, Rory was assistant conductor at Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, for new productions of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. Returning to the UK, he collaborated for the third time with pianist Bill Laurance, conducting a new studio album alongside the Grammy winning pianist. Rory will return to Teatro Colón in 2024 for a new production of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites.
Further regular engagements as assistant conductor have included BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Hallé and Britten Sinfonia, with conductors including Andrew Manze, Vasily Petrenko, Sir Mark Elder, Ludovic Morlot and John Storgårds. Following his assistantship to Mark Elder, he was retained as rehearsal conductor for a major RNCM/Hallé joint project on Elgar. In 2019 he conducted the BBC Philharmonic for the first time in concert broadcast, programming Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 and Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto.
Rory is focused on finding and connecting with new audiences. In April 2019, his first collaboration with Bill Laurance - including arrangements by Rory & the ensemble’s co-director Josh Poole - led to their invitation as one of the main events to the 2021 EFG London Jazz Festival. The following week, thousands came from all corners of Manchester for the orchestra’s celebration of Nina Simone. The ensemble’s Arts Council-funded project for 2024, Movement, is a performance-based study on the artistic consequences of immigration to the UK.
Before completing his Bachelor’s degree as a viola player, Rory won a scholarship to the RNCM's prestigious Master’s Course in Conducting. He graduated in 2019 receiving the Conductors’ Award and, upon finishing his studies, was made associate conductor of the Britten-Shostakovich Festival Orchestra in its inaugural year. A bilateral initiative between Russia and the UK, this project was brought to a close due to the conflict in Ukraine. He maintains a close working relationship with the organisation and its directors as they look to continue this bi-national approach in Croatia & France.
Rory is also a prolific orchestrator and arranger. Aside from writing music for his own projects, he is regularly commissioned by The Hallé, with these arrangements being played by many of the UK's major orchestras. He has been to multiple festivals as conductor and arranger including EFG London Jazz Festival, New Music North West and Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte Montepulciano. With Psappha - Manchester’s sole professional ensemble for contemporary music - Rory spent a week workshopping Stephen Pratt’s new work, Telling the Tale. With this passion for developing new music, Rory works regularly with composer Phoenix Rousiamanis and will perform her new multi-genre cantata at European opera festivals in 2023/24. He has conducted many premiere performances in concert while maintaining an active focus on expanding the scope of contemporary concert music.
This biography is valid for use until June 2024.
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