Our Conductor

Nicholas Concannon Hodges

Since taking the helm at Todmorden Orchestra at the start of the 2006/7 season, Nick has established himself as a highly successful and respected conductor in the West Pennines. Between 2007 and 2012 he worked with the Burnley Municipal Orchestra and Chorus and since 2012 he has been a Guest Conductor with the Orchestra of Square Chapel, Halifax.

In 2009 Nick became the Musical Director of the Congleton Choral Society, a post he held until 2011. He was invited to conduct the Pennine Spring Music Festival Orchestra in the same year and began to build a strong relationship with the Festival; he was subsequently made the Festival’s Musical Director in 2011.

Challenging performers to excel and perform at their best through supportive, enjoyable and rewarding rehearsals is a fundamental part of Nick’s work. Both the Todmorden Orchestra and the Pennine Spring Music Festival continue to develop and flourish, giving truly memorable performances to great acclaim.

Outside of the Pennines, Nick has also conducted orchestras in Italy, Holland, Sweden, Eire and the Czech Republic. In London he has worked with I Maestri of London, the Croydon Symphony Orchestra and the Whitehall Orchestra, the Thames Concert Orchestra and Sinfonia da Capo.

As a choral conductor, he directed the Peoples’ Proms Chorus, Staines and the choir of St Peter’s Church, Staines and between 1999 and 2006 Nick worked with the Haslemere Music Society as assistant conductor and leader of the orchestra.

Nick studied violin at the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded the Royal Orchestral Society Prize. He went on to perform throughout London and the South East as a freelance violinist until moving to Manchester in 2007. His conducting studies began in 1998 and have taken him all over Europe where he studied privately with a variety of teachers including the internationally renowned pedagogue Jorma Panula.