Damian Iorio
Artistic and Music Director
Senior Orchestra Conductor
Born in London into a distinguished family of Italian and English musicians, Damian Iorio is a dynamic and gifted conductor, and enjoys an international career. Having begun his professional life as a violinist, following studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and Indiana University, Damian went on to study conducting at St Petersburg State Conservatoire whilst serving as a member of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Damian has conducted some of the world’s greatest orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, San Francisco Symphony, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, the BBC Orchestras, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de Belgique and Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne.
Read more at damianiorio.com
Rachel Erdos
Camerata and Sinfonia Orchestras’ Director
Sinfonia Orchestra Conductor
Rachel has a wealth of experience in string teaching and musicianship. She is music director and teacher of violin at Colourstrings Music School in London. She has a British Kodály Academy certificate in advanced musicianship and is trained in the Colourstrings approach by its originator Géza Szilvay.
Rachel has an MA in music from Oxford University, where she was an instrumental scholar. She studied the violin with Diana Cummings in London and Tom Williams in Montreal on a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. During this time she was a member of the National Youth Orchestra and leader of the Britten-Pears Orchestra.
Leon Bosch
Camerata Orchestra Conductor
Having worked with the finest conductors for 30 years as a member of groups such as the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philharmonia and Hallé, Leon learnt the repertoire and conductor’s craft from inside the orchestra, and finally made the transition to the podium in 2015, when he left the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and went to study in St Petersburg with Alexander Polishchuk. Since then he has conducted orchestras across the UK, Europe, India, South Africa and Mozambique.
Read more at leonbosch.com
Monica Wilkinson
Sinfonietta Orchestra Director
Dalcroze coach
Passionate about enhancing the human condition through music education, Monica’s experience extends through instrumental teaching, primary classroom music, chamber music coaching and Dalcroze training for adults and children. She studied violin with Peter Cropper, and later with Catherine Yates.
For the last 6 years she has led a prizewinning Masters’Module at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for qualified teachers called “Exploring Responsibility of All Through Dalcroze Eurhythmics” which was funded by the Scottish Government. Her roles at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh (until 2022) included teaching violin, pedagogy, and from 2013-20 Dalcroze classes for 4 to 10-year-olds at Saturday Morning Classes.
Read more at monicawmusic.co.uk
Coaching team – Senior Orchestra
Simon Smith
1st violins
Enrico Alvares
2nd violins
Alex Thorndike
Violas
Gillian Thoday
Cellos
Ben Russell
Double bass
Coaching team – Sinfonia and Camerata Orchestras
John Crawford
1st violins
Celia Waterhouse
2nd violins
Vanessa Gaidoni
Violas
Rebecca Leyton-Smith
Cellos
Cathy Elliott
Double bass
Kodály and Dalcroze coaches – Sinfonia and Camerata Orchestras
Holger Aston
Monica Wilkinson
Coaching team – Sinfonietta Orchestra
Adelaide Carlow
Kim Vaughan
Residency team
Rowena Taylor
NYSO Administrator
Pastoral Director
DSL
Caroline Blair
Pastoral team leader (Sinfonia & Camerata)
Becky Thorp
Pastoral team leader (Sinfonietta)
Theo Vinden
Residency/Music Assistant
Tomo Kimura
Photographer &
Social Media Manager
Pastoral team assistants
Senior Orchestra
tbc for 2025
Camerata & Sinfonia
tbc for 2025
Sinfonietta
tbc for 2025
Support team
Anne-Marie Norman
Co-ordinator of NYSO external engagements and assistant to the accountant
Jane MacArthur
Amati UK Limited
Accountant