Principal conductor of the Camerata Freden Chamber Orchestra and the Oxford Millenium Orchestra, Adrian Adlam is a versatile conductor with a wide-ranging repertoire. He is a champion of new works and an insightful interpreter of major Classical repertoire. Recent performances have involved Schumann’s Symphony No.3, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, and the Bruch violin concerto, Shostakovich Chamber Symphony, Britten’s Serenade for tenor and horn, and Daniele Ghisi’s ‘The white box at the end of the road’. His repertoire stretches from standard masterpieces of the Baroque period such as Bach, Vivaldi and Handel through to the Classical symphonies of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to the Romantic works of Brahms and Tchaikovsky. He has also directed major works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Berg as well as contemporary works by Michael Finnissy, Tansy Davies, Elena Firsova, Judith Varga, Christian Jost, Keiko Harada and many others.

Projects have included the Mozart Requiem in the revised version by Robert Levin which received highly favourable reviews, praising the “decisive clarity of his conducting style” and his ability to “control the extremes of dynamic range”. He has directed acclaimed performances of Prokofiev’s ‘Classical Symphony’ and the concerto for piano and trumpet, along with ‘Peter and the Wolf’. His directing of Strauss’ Metamorphosen “gave clarity to the individual part-writing” as well as “pacing the gradual dynamic climax with authority”. In a performance of Copland’s Quiet City and Ives’ Unanswered Question, collaborating with the celebrated German trumpeter Matthias Höfs, he was said to have created a “hauntingly unforgettable atmosphere”. Copland’s Appalachian Spring showed that “Adlam’s rhythmically decisive interpretation as well as his flexible musical playfulness was apparent throughout”. “Adlam managed to capture the differing moods so dramatically that the audience was transported to a world of pictorial associations.”

As founding member and artistic director of the Internationale Fredener Musiktage, Adrian Adlam has been responsible for the programming of a great variety of festival themes. Venues for the festival performances include the iconic Fagus Factory, designed by Walter Gropius (architect and founder of the Bauhaus movement). Here he directed and performed Berg’s violin concerto which had been written in memory of the architect’s daughter Manon. As artistic director he has remained committed to championing contemporary works, resulting in commissions of new works each year for the festival ensemble ‘camerata freden’. The achievement of the festival in bringing Classical music, and especially contemporary works, to rural audiences, resulted in the festival receiving the coveted PraetoriusMusikpreis Niedersachsen award for its contribution to the arts.