Nicholas Dodd

PH conductor and arranger

Nicholas Dodd conducted the sensational programme of Procol Harum music at the London Barbican in February 1996. The following resumé is taken from the programme of that recital. He is also scheduled to conduct Procol Harum with the Hallé Orchestra in 2001.

After graduating with honours from the Royal College of Music, Maestro Dodd founded the Chelsea Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble that included the finest of the Royal College's graduates. He secured the necessary support to allow the orchestra to mount and develop regular season programmes and to regularly perform in London.

The Chelsea Symphony orchestra toured in Europe, including performances in Switzerland and Paris, where the audiences showed their enthusiasm by awarding Maestro Dodd and the Orchestra a ten-minute standing ovation. The CSO was invited to New York City for the Britain Salutes New York festival, where they were received with equal enthusiasm. Maestro Dodd continued to fulfil concert engagements in England, including the Royal Albert Hall, and was approached by American composer Richard Adler to conduct the European première of his Wilderness Suite. The concert, held at St John's Smith Square in London, favourably impressed audiences and critics alike.

In 1987 Maestro Dodd was invited to conduct the Houston Symphony Orchestra as the highlight of their Mostly Mozart festival. The critics were generous in their praise: "Nicholas gave a sparkling and lyrically phrased performance" (The Houston Post).

Travelling frequently to the USA in 1990, Maestro Dodd recorded La Chanson Du Voyage, a song-cycle for soprano and orchestra, with soloist Janice Grissom and narrator Robert Powell. He was also Music Director and Conductor for the 'World Student Games' in England in which 111 countries participated, and composed classical works for the proceedings.

In 1993 Maestro Dodd conducted Look Homeward Angel, a piece by Richard Adler, with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra; recorded the same piece with the London Symphony Orchestra; orchestrated and conducted a major film score in London with the National Symphony Orchestra, called The Young Americans.

In addition to working with Gary Brooker on the orchestration of songs for this concert (Conquistador, Homburg, (You Can't) Turn Back The Page, Pandora's Box, Man With A Mission, Grand Hotel), Maestro Dodd is currently orchestrating songs for an album by David Arnold for Warner Brothers, and served as orchestrator and conductor for the films Stargate and The Last of the Dogmen with the London Symphony Orchestra.

When not in Los Angeles, involved in films, Maestro Dodd is busy conducting in the London music studios, and is at present engaged upon a new project featuring contemporary artists in startling new arrangements of the classic James Bond theme songs.

Nicholas Dodd is a 38-year-old dynamic, diverse and experienced conductor, with a repertoire that brings audiences to their feet and critics to hail his virtuosity.

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