Conductor

What do Conductors do?

Music Conductors help groups of instrumentalists and singers to interpret and perform pieces of music. They prepare musical scores for performance, and form clear ideas about how they should sound. They then lead a group of performers and help them to realize these ideas, making sure that performers understand their roles and play and sing well together, producing the right notes at the right speed.

Conductors work with a range of performers including amateur and professional orchestras and choruses, church choirs, music students, and youth and community music groups. Some work on stage musicals or recorded soundtracks for film and TV.

Conductors must be flexible about working hours as daytime, evening and weekend work are all usually required. They work in theaters, concert halls, churches, recording studios, rehearsal rooms and music libraries. Outdoor concert venues like sports' stadiums and stately homes are becoming increasingly popular.

Most Conductors spend their entire professional careers studying and improving their skills. This is not usually part of a formal training program, but is done because they love music. They may also attend workshops and master classes. Some specialized music colleges offer training schemes for outstanding students who are mentored by professional musicians. Some postgraduates are employed as repetiteurs in opera companies. As well as accompanying rehearsals on the piano and coaching the singers, they can observe and learn from established Conductors.

It is important for Conductors wishing to progress to take on as much amateur and professional conducting work as possible and build a good list of contacts. Many combine conducting with other relevant work, including playing professionally, composing, teaching, community and education work and recording.

There are 1179 music industry professionals with the job title Conductor on Music Jobs

Conductor jobs which have appeared on the Music Jobs jobs board:

Youth Symphony Conductor(s) Sheboygan, WI	Today
Children's Choir Director Bloomington, MN	02/08/12
Assistant Conductor Birmingham, AL	02/07/12

Job description sources include (but are not limited to) imdb.com, skillset.org and wikipedia.