News and Press

After four fun-filled years RPO Resound’s innovative secondary schools music programme 7UP has come to an end with one final musical extravaganza. The special showcase concert took place on Tuesday, 17^th July at Kingsbury High School in Brent and was attended by Guest of Honour, Cllr Arshad Mahmood, Mayor of Brent and an audience of over 100 friends and family.

A warm welcome to Thomas Verity, our new Associate Clarinet.

Thomas studied at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music.

He has performed, recorded and broadcast with orchestras across the UK, including guest principal with the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Manchester Concert Orchestra. He was a member of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011 to 2018, with highlights including tours to Spain, China and Japan, and playing principal clarinet in the BBC Proms.

There’s a palpable sense of excitement at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), shared by players and management alike. It stems from Vasily Petrenko’s appointment as Music Director and is set to build towards the start of his five-year contract in August 2021. The 42-year-old Russian, recently praised by the Berliner Morgenpost for his ‘fearless’ and ‘brilliant’ artistry, has a fund of ideas for developing his new orchestra, raising its status at home and overseas, and broadening the global audience for orchestral music. He’s destined to become Music Director Designate in August 2020, soon after finishing work as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. The timeline for Petrenko’s arrival in post as RPO Music Director includes his departure as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) in July 2021 and appointment as its Conductor Laureate.