Ryan Wigglesworth

Ryan Wigglesworth is a composer, conductor and pianist considered one of the most important British musicians of his generation. Since 2022, he has served as Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Yorkshire, England on August 31st, 1979, Wigglesworth studied music at New College, Oxford and subsequently at the Guildhall College of Music and Drama. He briefly lectured at Cambridge University from 2007 to 2009, but has since focussed his musical career largely on three fronts: conducting, composition and performing.

As a conductor Wigglesworth has worked with leading orchestras in the United Kingdom and Europe including the City of Birmingham Symphony, the London Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestras amongst many others. He served as Principal Guest Conductor of Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra from 2015 to 2018, and in February 2022 was appointed to his first Chief Conductorship with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Notable performances so far with the BBC SSO include Brahms’ Third and Elgar’s Second Symphonies, both at the 2024 BBC Proms.

Active also as a composer and pianist, Wigglesworth’s 2007 orchestral work Sternenfall - which premiered in February 2008 under his own direction - established him as one of his generation’s foremost composer-conductors. He has since enhanced his reputation further with many notable works including his first opera, The Winter’s Tale for the English National Opera (based on William Shakespeare’s play of the same name), and his Piano Concerto which received its world premiere at the 2019 BBC Proms.

In 2019, Wigglesworth was appointed Richard Rodney Bennett Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, taking over from influential British composer and conductor Oliver Knussen. In celebration and memory of his predecessor, Wigglesworth also founded the Knussen Chamber Orchestra - an ensemble comprising both established professional musicians and Royal Academy students.