Biography
Stephen Threlfall
A highly experienced and versatile musician, Stephen has earned much acclaim for his performances, recordings, and broadcasts. He was formerly sub principal cello with the BBC Philharmonic, having played with many leading UK orchestras and was also a member of the Arensky Piano Trio. He has also given many concerto and duo concerts throughout his career.
His conducting engagements have taken him to the USA, Europe, Scandinavia and Hong Kong, with many visits to Yekaterinburg, the Royal Oman and Amman Symphony Orchestras. Other ensembles include the National Children’s Orchestra, Trinity Laban, the Transylvanian State Symphony, Urals Philharmonic, Northern Ballet and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras, The Hanover Band, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra of Opera North and Manchester Camerata.
From1995 until 2019 he was Director of Music at Chetham’s School of Music. During this time he created a number of acclaimed arts, educational and community projects; Antarctica 2001, Brundibár 2002, A Child of our Time 2004, Bernstein- A Celebration 2008, Delius125 anniversary 2012 and Britten Centenary 2013.
Having spearheaded the ambitious project to open a new state-of-the-art concert hall at Chetham’s, Stephen devised the opening celebrations of The Stoller Hall in April 2017. The royal opening concert received a 5-star review from Richard Morrison of The Times. He also programmed several special performances spanning 2019 to mark Chetham’s 50th anniversary, the centerpiece being the highly praised performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony which he conducted in July of that year and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Since 2020 Stephen has been the Artistic Director of the Lake District Summer Festival.