Frederick Platt has proved himself as an accomplished musician and a dynamic conductor. Most recently, he has embarked on a new adventure in Vienna, the spiritual home of classical music, where he is already making an impression in the musical community. This comes after he completed a season as Assistant Conductor with Bath Philharmonia, in a return to his home city and its professional orchestra. With them, he conducted works by Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Holst and Bizet to capacity crowds of up to 1700 people as well as having an active role in rehearsals and assisting the orchestra's management. Using this experience, he continues to direct the Bristol-based Resonance Orchestra that he formed with a view to introducing new listeners to the repertoire through inventive means. Additionally, the University of Bath Orchestra underwent a transformation under his leadership as they pursued a new direction in the performance of symphonic works, including Beethoven's iconic 9th symphony, Bruckner's 4th and Tchaikovsky's 6th.

Since beginning conducting at the age of seventeen he has held three other assistant directorships, including both orchestral and choral posts. He has also built a strong foundation in the principles of conducting from masterclasses with Neil Thomson and John Farrer as well as three years training and studying under Jason Thornton of Bath Philharmonia and Robin Browning at the University of Southampton. During this time, Frederick held the position of Assistant Conductor of Frome Symphony Orchestra and the top student conducting role of Assistant Conductor of Southampton University Symphony Orchestra, gaining experience in a wide range of musical periods and aesthetics, from Vivaldi to Britten and Prokofiev. In 2015 he took up the baton with #OperaCo to glowing reviews in their performance of Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco, forming the orchestra and chorus from scratch. They went on to produce Bach's St Matthew Passion and Donizetti's Anna Bolena together, and envisage more projects in future.

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Additionally, Frederick has a strong affinity with the choral repertoire. He has continued to develop his basso cantante voice for several years and has greatly enjoyed singing with large scale choirs and choral societies as well as with chamber choirs. With one such ensemble, Bellacappella, he also shared the direction of the group, conducting works spanning the last 600 years in a variety of languages. Furthermore, on arrival at the University of Southampton, Frederick was awarded a choral scholarship, requiring weekly performances of sacred music. These wide experiences as both chorister and choirmaster have given him the flexibility and skill to work with choirs as well as orchestras and with music possessing diverse challenges.

 

Love of music and the ability to share this and enthuse others is part of Fred's makeup. This was apparent when even as a young air cadet bandsman, he was responsible for leading rehearsals, contributing as a competent trumpet player but also an effective bandleader. Today, he strives to draw the best from musicians by way of his musical understanding and his empathetic and expressive nature.