Martin Leigh is Music Director of the Halesowen Orchestra and the Knowle Sinfonia in Birmingham, Guest Conductor of the Shrewsbury Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham University Philharmonic, and Music Director of Opera Festa. He has conducted orchestras such the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and in 2000 he conducted the Birmingham Conservatoire’s acclaimed staging of Giulio Cesare. In the 2003-4 season he becomes the Music Director of the Wyre Forest Symphony Orchestra. For the last four years, he has been assistant to Sir Charles Mackerras, and in that capacity has worked with artists such as Bryn Terfel, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Daniels, Christian Tetzlaff, and Alfred Brendel towards performances at the Edinburgh International Festival and commercial recordings. In the Summer of 2001, he was assistant conductor on Sir Charles’s complete recording of Idomeneo (EMI), with Ian Bostridge in the title role, as well as making his conductingdebut in the Edinburgh International Festival. He has also acted as assistant conductor on a recording of Mozart arias with Barbara Frittoli (Erato).

He was an Instrumental Exhibitioner of Jesus College, Cambridge, and studied at the University of Nottingham, where, as a British Academy Scholar, he completed a doctorate on the music of Brahms under the guidance of Professor Robert Pascall. He studied conducting with Alan Hazeldine of the Guildhall School of Music and George Hurst, and has had coaching from Marin Alsop, Libor Pesek and Sir Roger Norrington. As a pianist Martin has given performances on BBC television and radio, in the Aldeburgh Festival, and with the Allegri String Quartet. In th academic year 1998-9 he was the Broadwood Junior Fellow in Piano Accompaniment at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Graham Johnson invited him to take part in his Young Songmakers’ Almanac 2001. In addition to his academic publications, he is a regular contributor to Classic Record Collector, and has written sleeve notes for APR, Biddulph, Decca, and Pearl (including the recently-released Pablo Casals Festivals series). He has taught for the Universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and Glasgow, and for the Birmingham Conservatoire.