Michael Stinton was appointed Director of Music at Abingdon School in 1987 and has been conducting and developing the First Orchestra there for over twenty-one years. Michael is from a family of musicians - his sister is the flautist, Jennifer Stinton.
A graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, where he was Open Hadow Instrumental Scholar, he studied the oboe at The Royal Academy of Music with the late Janet Craxton. His first post was as Assistant Director of Music at St Paul's Boys' School in London where he met his wife, the figurative artist and teacher, Clova Stuart-Hamilton. They live in Oxford with their three children.
Since 1992 Michael has been Conductor and Musical Director of The Thames Vale Youth Orchestra, working with many of the most gifted young musicians of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. Their next concert is on Friday May 1 in The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, where the programme includes Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony.
Michael has led the Abingdon School Orchestra on a number of international concert tours to Central Europe in 1995 and 2002 and to Hong Kong and China in 2006, during the School's 750th anniverary year. He us very excited by the project of working with Mr Nishimara's Tokai Gakuen High School Orchestra from Nagoya and by the opportunities for cultural understanding and exchange that the concert offers.
1. Who is the living performer you would like to have dinner with?
MAS Daniel Barenboim - I am enthralled by his initiatives in finding links and common ground between nations who are not at peace - in this case Israel and the arab world.
- Who is the dead composer you would most like to have met?
MAS Beethoven and Tchaikovsky -(their music is so original), Brahms (whose chamber music I adore) and Bach (who, on balance, is the greatest ever composer in my view)
- What is your favourite piece of music (pre 1950)?
MAS Bach' St Matthew Passion and Brahms' Clarinet Quintet
- What is your favourite piece of music (post 1950)?
MAS Shostakovich's Symphony No 10 (1953) which I have conducted twice and saw Rostropovich conduct with the LSO in one of his last concerts
- What instruments do you play?
MAS I am an oboist
- One wish for your department.
MAS More space! What we have is good, but, with 45 staff now, we are sometimes short of rooms.
- What has the most exciting thing about being a musical director been to date?
MAS Generally, the opportunity to work with talented pupils and gifted and dedicated staff and, specifically, leading a really exciting and successful orchestral tour to Hong Kong and Beijing in 2006
- What has been the funniest moment?
MAS Probably wheeling an upright piano, a gift to the school from a former piano teacher, on a trolley through the centre of Abingdon. There were quite a few surprised faces!
9. What has been the most difficult moment?
MAS A Christmas Concert one year when a really friendly school groundsman with whom I used to chat had a heart attack and died just before the concert was due to start. A great way to go, but very sad at the tim
Your favourite moment?
MAS Conducting my youth orchestra in The Royal Albert Hall in London in the Schools Promenade Concert some years ago.
- What is your favourite opera?
- What orchestra in the world would you like to conduct?
- What advice would you give to a young performer who is nervous before a concert?
MAS Think about the composer of the piece and not yourself - do it justice!
- What venue would you most like to conduct in?
MAS Birmingham Symphony Hall with CBSO
- Do you have a quick message for the other orchestra?
MAS Enjoy the experience and try to get to know the Abingdon musicians - they are a really talented, friendly and enthusiastic bunch of boys.
- What song do you sing in the bath?
MAS I tend to shower - baths take too long and use too much water!
- What is your hobby outside music?
MAS Spending time with my family and friends in France where we bought a house on Honeymoon in 1988 - Cooking, reading, walking, making music and DIY (Do it Yourself - home improvements/bricolage)
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