"Musical Hemispheres"
Artists
Richard Dickins – Conductor
Described 
by Julian Lloyd Webber writing in the London Daily Telegraph as ‘…an excellent conductor’, Richard Dickins studied conducting with the late Norman Del Mar and subsequently worked as Del Mar’s assistant on many occasions with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Bournemouth Symphony. Since then he has built an enviable reputation working with orchestras throughout the UK including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, London Mozart Players and Ulster Orchestra.
Much admired for his sympathetic rapport with concerto soloists he has been fortunate to work with some of the UK’s finest musicians including Raphael Wallfisch, Noriko Ogawa, Jane Watts, Amy Dickson, Corina Belcea-Fisher and Richard Watkins. He made his Italian conducting debut with performances of Walton’s Façade with the Lindsay Kemp Dance Company for La Scala at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, following which he took the production on tour throughout Italy.
With a repertoire that stretches from the baroque to contemporary music he has given many first performances including works by John Woolrich, Timothy Salter, John Madden, William Mival and Peter Hope.
Richard Dickins is well known for his work with young musicians. He became conductor of the Symphony Orchestra at Imperial College London whilst still a student and was later appointed the College’s first Musician-in Residence. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, he maintains his links with the RCM where he is principal conductor at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. He was recently elected to honorary membership of the RCM and was presented with this honour by the Prince of Wales.
For more than two decades Richard has been artistic director of the Minehead and Exmoor Festival – a week long series of orchestral concerts in the West Country featuring well known soloists and with professional players drawn from all over the UK.
Richard Dickins has appeared on BBC TV and national and local radio as well as Classic FM. In December 2002 he was featured in an episode of the Channel 4 series Faking It in which he mentors a punk rocker through the process of becoming a conductor. The episode won not only a BAFTA award but also the Golden Rose award and the Press Prize at the Montreux Festival.
His recent CD of English music with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Raphael Wallfisch for Nimbus has just been awarded three stars in the 2008 Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music and the Holst Invocation included on the disc was chosen as the best version available.