The Seckerson Tapes: Conductor Stephen Layton

Choral master on his crusade to bring the music of the Baltic to London audiences

by Edward SeckersonSaturday, 16 October 2010

Conductor and choral scholar Stephen Layton: One of the lucky ones

Conductor and choral scholar Stephen Layton once said that he often wondered what happened to the little boy at his primary school who he thought sang better than he did. The discovering and nurturing of raw talent is an issue very close to his heart and he offers three heartfelt cheers for the work of TV's Gareth Malone in that regard. Stephen was one of the lucky ones - he won a series of scholarships which defined his future and took him from Winchester Cathedral via Eton to King's College Cambridge.

Explore topics

Share this article

more Classical music

A masked elegy: portraits of string players at the Fidelio Orchestra Café Young talent captured by Nick Rutter during sessions for Strauss's 'Metamorphosen'

'Rehearsing Beethoven with Barenboim felt like an historical moment': Vienna Philharmonic trombonist Kelton Koch on a new normal As the Salzburg Festival flourishes, a Texan in Austria welcomes a musical rebirth

Classical CDs Weekly: Bruckner, Elgar, Prokofiev Stellar Antipodeans, English late romanticism and Soviet ballet music

Louis Schwizgebel, Fidelio Orchestra Café review – gilt-edged postcards from around the world Sonority first in Debussy and Musorgsky, plus profound Brahms cello-and-piano surprises

Pavel Kolesnikov, Fidelio Orchestra Café review – a Chopin cosmos The finest one-act musical drama at close quarters

theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2020 – great live orchestra, ecstatic audience Estonia’s summer capital buzzes again with electrifying music-making under Paavo Järvi

Classical CDs Weekly: Sir John Barbirolli A much-loved British conductor gets an anniversary tribute

BBC Lunchtime Concerts from Glasgow's City Halls, BBC Radio 3 review - a feast for ears if not for eyes Four very special live broadcasts from Scottish artists

First Person: Christopher Glynn on how the Ryedale Festival flows on Artistic director and pianist defines his hopes for an online journey

Classical CDs Weekly: Ives, Plakidis, Shostakovich Visionary Americana, Latvian orchestral music and a pair of Soviet violin concertos

Classical music/Opera direct to home 21 - from large-scale memories to chamber-music streaming Giant Proms, Wagner, a violinist in a chapel - there's still much to enrich evenings indoors

Kanneh-Mason, Philharmonia, Wilson online review - light in darkness With starry soloist and sky-high production standards, this is a sure-fire winner

Follow @theartsdesk