Conductor required for London's biggest Christmas music celebration

Big Christmas Wind Orchestra and Choir

We are London's biggest come-and-sing/play Christmas carol event, with 500+ musicians coming together for one afternoon of Christmas music. There is no rehearsal and all are welcome in a huge festive celebration of music.

We bring together everyone from seasoned professionals to absolute beginners, with any wind orchestra instrument or just their voice. We have everything from piccolos and soprano cornets, down to contrabass flutes and sousaphones. Our choir come from all walks of life and are passionate, strong singers of everyone's favourite Christmas repertoire.

It's not often an opportunity comes along to conduct an ensemble of 500+ musicians! Grab the chance to be part of our amazing Christmas spirit.

You can read all about us with video and photos at https://www.bigchristmaswindorchestra.org/

We are missing a conductor for this year, after our founding musical director has moved abroad.
We would certainly welcome student conductors and developing directors, who are up for a novel and unique challenge of such a large ensemble for infrequent events.

The preparation time required is very small - the repertoire is straightforward Christmas carols and a couple of pop numbers. Everything is incredibly well organised for the event, such that the conductor can focus on the music.

We must be honest from the outset - money is an issue. We have several grant applications submitted and awaiting a decision at this moment. Until the decisions are made, we cannot agree on a fee. If and when we secure a grant, we will certainly pay fairly. Without a grant, we have nothing to offer but Christmas goodwill and thanks. The whole event makes zero profit, is reliant on gifts in kind, and is run on a shoestring budget.

It is unreasonable to ask musicians to do something for nothing, and we hate to do so. So we can only hope a grant is secured, but if not, this is a development opportunity for the right person, just for this year. We would love a partnership for the long term (this is a twice-yearly event and has been running for over 12 years already), such that we can agree a fee as soon as we have grants in place again.

And to be honest, it is not every day that a genuinely huge festive ensemble of performers is put together, it's quite the opportunity for the right person!

Take contact as soon as possible if you're interested - this event is really unique and special, so we need the right fit for the role!

Contact: info@bigchristmaswindorchestra.org