Barry Wordsworth is Principal Guest Conductor of The Royal Ballet, having previously served as the company’s Music Director from 1990-1995 and 2007-2015. He is also Conductor Laureate of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Brighton Philharmonic, and Music Director Laureate of Birmingham Royal Ballet.

He has appeared with the world’s leading orchestras, including the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Sydney Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic.

In a long and distinguished career with the BBC, he has made many appearances at the BBC Proms, and in 1993 he conducted the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In his 17 years as Principal Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, he toured extensively with the group, including to Japan, the United States, and China.

In addition to his concert career, he has for 50 years enjoyed a close association with the Royal Ballet in London. He has toured widely with the company including performances in Orlando with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in New York with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, in Copenhagen with the Copenhagen Philharmonic, at the Aldeburgh Festival with the Britten Sinfonia, and in Taipei with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra.

Wordsworth’s extensive catalogue of recordings includes Elgar’s music for chorus and orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra, and discs of Tchaikovsky and Elgar with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. A recording entitled “Last Night of the Proms” with the BBC Concert Orchestra has achieved enormous popular success, as have his albums with Bryn Terfel and the London Symphony Orchestra, the first of which won a Grammy Award.

Wordsworth holds honorary doctorates from the University of Brighton and the University of Central England in Birmingham. He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban in London.