Conducting & Ensemble Direction

Book Now for the Easter Course

Book Now for the Summer Course

• Spaces are limited, so we recommend booking early
• Easter Course: Bookings close at 5pm on Monday, 30 March 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity
• Summer Course: Bookings close at 5pm on Friday, 3 July 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity
• Please note: accommodation is not provided
• View our terms and conditions 

Ages 18+

Course Dates & Times

Easter Course
Tuesday 7 – Friday 10 April 2026
10.30am–5.30pm 

Summer Course
Tuesday 14 – Friday 17 July 2026
10.30am–5.30pm 

About Conducting & Ensemble Direction

This four-day course will give you a thorough grounding in the physical technique of conducting and you will conduct a variety of repertoire.

Whilst the focus of the course will be on the practical application of conducting technique, you will also receive training in ensemble direction, including score preparation, rehearsal technique and effective verbal communication.

Who is the course for?

• Music educators, professional musicians, and music students with or without conducting experience
• Music educators may be, for example, classroom teachers, peripatetic instrumental / singing teachers, or music service teachers. Professional musicians may already conduct ensembles or be interested in exploring conducting in their career in the future

What can I expect?

You will leave the course with the ability to direct ensembles confidently. Participants will develop a thorough understanding of the physical, technical skills of conducting. In addition, participants will be able to lead rehearsals efficiently and effectively by exploring best practices in - for example - score preparation, rehearsal planning, and verbal communication.

You can expect to conduct a variety of repertoire, initially with two pianists and later with a chamber ensemble. These sessions will be filmed, and copies of the video will be distributed to all participants. Following the course, participants are encouraged to record themselves conducting their own ensemble, in order to receive post-course feedback from the tutor. 

Do I need anything for the course?

Prior to the beginning of the course, you will be encouraged to study the music that will be covered during the course. A digital copy of the sheet music to be studied will be provided in advance of the course. At the beginning of the course you will be provided with a course booklet which will contain all the music to be used in the course.

You do not need to own a conducting baton to attend the course.

Course fee

£515

Book Now for the Easter Course

Book Now for the Summer Course

• Spaces are limited, so we recommend booking early
• Easter Course: Bookings close at 5pm on Monday, 30 March 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity
• Summer Course: Bookings close at 5pm on Friday, 3 July 2026, or when the course reaches full capacity
• Please note: accommodation is not provided
• View our terms and conditions 

Eligibility

• We welcome participants from all ages 18 and over
• Participants must have sufficient English language skills in order to fully engage with the course 

About the Course Tutor

The Easter course is taught by Matt Scott-Rogers.
The Summer course is taught by Scott Wilson.

Matt Scott Rogers is Music Director at University College London and Conducting Teacher at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, as well as on the faculty of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He studied conducting with Neeme and Paavo Järvi, and was a member of Jorma Panula’s acclaimed class at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He first read music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, before continuing at the University of Glasgow, the Sibelius Academy and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was awarded a Leverhulme Studentship and was a Churchill Fellow. 

He has a flourishing career in opera and ballet companies across Europe. After five seasons on the conducting staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, latterly as a member of the Jette Parker Artists Programme, recent engagements have included the premiere of The Art of the Fugue and For højt, for veldt og for meget! at the Royal Danish Theatre, Jonathan Dove’s Itch at Opera Holland Park, and the UK premiere of Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travellers with UCOpera.

Sought-after for his work with contemporary composers, upcoming engagements include the European premieres of If I Were You by Jake Heggie and Paul’s Case by Gregory Spears; the world premieres of Scenes from a Marriage by Matias Vestergård and Frede Stære by Philip Faber; as well as productions of Innocence by Kaija Saariaho and The Tender Land by Aaron Copland. 

Matt is a staff conductor for The Royal Danish Opera, working on Manfred Trojahn’s Orest, Simon Steen-Andersen’s Don Juan’s Inferno, and new productions of Seven Deadly Sins, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Dialogues des Carmélites. At Malmö Opera he has conducted The Nutcracker and Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Matt came to international attention in July 2015 when he made his Lincoln Center debut conducting the New York City Ballet Orchestra. This was followed by a period with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as a member of the prestigious International Conductor Development Program. Other orchestras he has conducted include the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Orchestra of Opera North, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Tokyo City Philharmonic, Osaka Symphony, Dubrovnik Symphony, Berlin Sinfonietta, Southbank Sinfonia and the Estonian Festival Orchestra. 

As assistant conductor at the Royal Opera House he worked with Andris Nelsons, Antonio Pappano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Marc Minkowski, Emmanuel Villaume, Marie Jacquot and Plácido Domingo, among others; he has also assisted Vladimir Jurowski at the London Philharmonic. He conducted for the Royal Ballet on their summer tours in 2015 and 2016 and has worked extensively as a Chorus Master. 

Scott Wilson, London-based Australian conductor, is Head of Orchestra Learning for the Orchestra of the Americas' OAcademy, Director of the OAcademy's Conducting Fellowship, and is a conducting teacher on short courses at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In addition to teaching students world-wide, through his online studio, he has taught at the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music Junior Department, and the Aldeburgh Young Musicians Programme. Also he has worked as an Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

His work as an educator is underpinned by the manual on conducting technique. In addition, he has written a book on audience engagement and development for orchestras - You ain’t heard nothin’ yet: The Potential of Orchestral Music. During the pandemic this was developed into the podcast A Thousand Pictures.

Previously he was Zander Fellow with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Artist in Residence and Conducting Fellow at Guildhall School of Music & Drama. His musicianship is founded on the pedagogical traditions of Ilya Musin and Nadia Boulanger, which he received under the mentorship of his principal teachers Sian Edwards and Norman Beedie. He studied with Kurt Masur in Sweden, Gianluigi Gelmetti in Italy, Johannes Fritzsch in Australia, and Ed Spanjaard in Hungary. Recently he made his debut at Opera Holland Park, conducting Mark Adamo’s Little Women.

In his former career as a percussionist, he specialised in contemporary solo and chamber repertoire. He worked with the Australian World Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Shakespeare Company, and at the Royal National Theatre, recorded chamber music for the BBC, and performed at contemporary music festivals throughout Europe.