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story by Kyle MacMillan Add those winning qualities to his obvious skills with the baton, and it is easy to understand why the 32-year-old American conductor is enjoying a blossoming career in Europe with two small but important posts and a third more significant one on the way in 2023-24: chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just so happens that a lot of the work that I initially got was over here,\u201d Bancroft said from his home in London, \u201cbut I have been coming more and more to the States and also to Canada and really enjoying that.”<\/p>\n This summer, he will make his Colorado Music Festival debut and what will be his first trip to the state. When he received the invitation, the conductor didn\u2019t need a lot of convincing. \u201cA summer in Colorado?<\/em> That sounds amazing, so I\u2019m happy to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He will lead two programs. His first set of concerts, July 21<\/a> and 22<\/a>, will include Florence Price\u2019s long-overlooked Violin Concerto No. 2 and Jean Sibelius\u2019 Symphony No. 2, and his July 24<\/a> line-up will be entirely devoted to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including the celebrated composer\u2019s Symphony No. 39. \u201cMozart has always been a favorite composer of mine,\u201d the conductor said, \u201cdue mostly to the fact that the first CD I ever received from my parents was a \u2018Best of Mozart\u2019 recording.\u201d<\/p>\n Bancroft grew up in Los Angeles and came to conducting about 11 years ago through an odd twist of events. His father died when he was studying trumpet at the California Institute of the Arts, and as a tribute, he decided to organize a concert featuring Mozart\u2019s Requiem \u2013 his dad\u2019s favorite work.<\/p>\n He recruited an orchestra and choir from his fellow CalArts students and led the performance in a church in Santa Clarita, a city just north of Los Angeles, discovering that he liked conducting and seemingly had a knack for it. \u201cThrough something quite terrible, something good came out of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He went on to receive a master\u2019s degree in orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and continued his studies in Amsterdam. \u201cI was strongly encouraged to take my studies to Europe due to the fact that a vast majority of the music I was interested in at the time came from this side of the pond,\u201d Bancroft said. \u201cI was lucky to get into several programs in Europe and eventually ended up staying.\u201d<\/p>\n His big breakthrough came in 2018 when he won both first prize and the audience prize at the Malko Competition<\/a> in Copenhagen, an international conducting contest that the symphonic world follows closely for new talent. \u201cI can measure everything before that and everything after that as two completely times in my life,\u201d Bancroft said. \u201cIt completely catapults you onto the world stage and gives umpteen opportunities for everyone involved in the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n As a result of his Malko victory, the conductor gained all-important representation by an agent and the help of a career consultant for a year. \u201cThat was vital, because otherwise I probably would have gone crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Because his conducting studies and many of his early engagements were in Europe, he has lived there for about 10 years. Making London his home now allows him to jump on a train for work at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, where he serves as principal conductor, and to catch quick flights for other engagements across the continent, including those as artist in association at the Tapiola Sinfonietta in Finland starting this season.<\/p>\n Bancroft had a \u201csoft spot in his heart\u201d for Sibelius even before he took up the Finnish post, but his time there has affected how he approaches works like the composer\u2019s Second Symphony, which he will lead in Boulder. \u201cEvery time I go to Finland,\u201d he said, \u201cI feel I learn more bit by bit about many different Finnish musics, Sibelius included. There really is a quiet intensity about the place that is quite infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to his first appearance with the Baltimore Symphony in January, Bancroft has made guest-conducting debuts in recent seasons with major orchestras like the BBC Symphony, Danish National Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic. And more are scheduled for 2022-23, including one with the Atlanta Symphony.<\/p>\n Is it challenging to lead well-established orchestras as a young, budding conductor?<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s definitely more responsibility,\u201d he said, \u201cnow that I have the good fortune to go to these really wonderful ensembles, but that also means that I have to be absolutely prepared. I\u2019m not Semyon Bychkov or Herbert Blomstedt, who have been doing this for decades and decades and have far more experience than I do.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are still quite a lot of pieces that I have not done, and there are pieces that I\u2019m doing for the first time constantly. So, in that way, there is still this base level of manageable fear that I have going into a lot of concerts. The job of an artist, in my case a conductor, is simply a difficult job. It\u2019s not meant to be a super-easy job. It\u2019s meant for us to put it on the line, to go in the ring and do the match. If it were easy, would I be that interested in it anymore? Probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_cta button_url=”https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/calendar\/%20″ url_new_window=”on” button_text=”Concert Calendar” _builder_version=”4.17.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n 2022 Festival attendees can hear Ryan Bancroft conduct two separate programs this summer at Chautauqua Auditorium: July 21\/22 and July 24. Tickets are on sale now.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" His big breakthrough came in 2018 when he won both first prize and the audience prize at the Malko Competition in Copenhagen, an international conducting contest that the symphonic world follows closely for new talent. \u201cI can measure everything before that and everything after that as two completely times in my life,\u201d Bancroft said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":271482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" by Kyle MacMillan<\/strong><\/p> With his youthful looks, quick laugh, and down-to-earth manner, Ryan Bancroft easily defies the stereotypes often associated with conductors of classical music. Add those winning qualities to his obvious skills with the baton, and it is easy to understand why the 32-year-old American conductor is enjoying a blossoming career in Europe with two small but important posts and a third more significant one on the way in 2023-24: chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. <\/p> \u201cIt just so happens that a lot of the work that I initially got was over here,\u201d Bancroft said from his home in London, \u201cbut I have been coming more and more to the States and also to Canada and really enjoying that.\u201d He will lead two programs. His first set of concerts, July 21<\/a> and 22<\/a>, will include Florence Price\u2019s long-overlooked Violin Concerto No. 2 and Jean Sibelius\u2019 Symphony No. 2, and his July 24<\/a> line-up will be entirely devoted to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, including the celebrated composer\u2019s Symphony No. 39. \u201cMozart has always been a favorite composer of mine,\u201d the conductor said, \u201cdue mostly to the fact that the first CD I ever received from my parents was a \u2018Best of Mozart\u2019 recording.\u201d<\/p> Bancroft grew up in Los Angeles and came to conducting about 11 years ago through an odd twist of events. His father died when he was studying trumpet at the California Institute of the Arts, and as a tribute, he decided to organize a concert featuring Mozart\u2019s Requiem \u2013 his dad\u2019s favorite work.<\/p> He recruited an orchestra and choir from his fellow CalArts students and led the performance in a church in Santa Clarita, a city just north of Los Angeles, discovering that he liked conducting and seemingly had a knack for it. \u201cThrough something quite terrible, something good came out of it,\u201d he said.<\/p> He went on to receive a master\u2019s degree in orchestral conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and continued his studies in Amsterdam. \u201cI was strongly encouraged to take my studies to Europe due to the fact that a vast majority of the music I was interested in at the time came from this side of the pond,\u201d Bancroft said. \u201cI was lucky to get into several programs in Europe and eventually ended up staying.\u201d<\/p>
<\/em>photo by Per Morton<\/em><\/p>\nWith his youthful looks, quick laugh, and down-to-earth manner, Ryan Bancroft easily defies the stereotypes often associated with conductors of classical music.<\/h3>\n
This summer, he will make his Colorado Music Festival debut and what will be his first trip to the state. When he received the invitation, the conductor didn\u2019t need a lot of convincing. \u201cA summer in Colorado? That sounds amazing, so I\u2019m happy to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>