Mark Heron studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and the Royal Northern College of Music. Following a successful chamber music career and freelance work with many of the UK’s professional symphony orchestras, Mark undertook conducting studies at the RNCM. He has also worked intensively in master classes with Neeme & Paavo Järvi, Jorma Panula, Mark Elder and Gianandrea Noseda. In 2005 Mark was awarded first prize in the Neeme Järvi conducting competition, held in Estonia, and in 2006 he worked with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra as one of three young conductors selected by the orchestra for their mentoring programme.
His diverse musical interests have resulted in an unusually wide range of work: symphony, chamber and wind orchestras, contemporary music and opera all feature regularly in his schedule. In the UK Mark is the Music Director of the Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool Mozart Orchestra and the Manchester University Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the conducting faculty at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Mark works regularly with the Pori Sinfonietta in Finland, whom he first conducted in 2002. Other professional orchestras he has worked with recently include the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, St Petersburg Festival Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Pärnu Philharmonic, St Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra and Kaiserslautern Symphony Orchestra.
At the RNCM he works with a wide variety of orchestras and ensembles and regularly makes commercial cd recordings with the RNCM Wind Orchestra. He has been the principal conductor of the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Israel since 2004, and in 2007/8 guest conducted at the Royal Academy of Music and with Young Sinfonia and Katabatic Winds, at the Sage, Gateshead.
Mark has a strong interest in contemporary music. He has led several commissioning projects involving composers from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Finland and United States and has literally dozens of world, European and UK premieres to his name. In April 2006 he conducted the European premiere of leading American composer Daron Hagen’s opera, Bandanna. He also plays an active part in the RNCM’s renowned composer festivals, having worked with Magnus Lindberg, Giya Kancheli, Mark Anthony Turnage, Unsuk Chin, Kalevi Aho and others.
Alongside his conducting engagements, Mark teaches conducting at the RNCM, Manchester University, Canford Summer School and the Royal Air Force.
(383 words - March 2008 Not to be edited without consent)"...the finale [of Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5] in particular was most impressive. Transitions between tempos were imaginative and convincing, there was some wonderful phrasing, and the optimistic climax well prepared and executed." PÄRNU POSTIMMES, ESTONIA
“The Liverpool Mozart Orchestra should feel proud of their efforts this weekend. So, too, can Mark Heron, a lively yet demanding conductor who extracted the best from the orchestra. A challenging programme sold every seat in the house and was played magnificently.” LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
“It's not every day that the Concert Hall is sold out for a programme of orchestral music - but the NPO - managed it. The most substantial work was the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein's West Side Story. There aren't many pieces of music which pack more life-enhancing pizzazz into 20 minutes and the NPO, under its energetic and versatile conductor Mark Heron, gave such a fizzing, virtuosic account that the audience burst into applause before the conclusion.” NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
“Again, I wanted to tell you what an unalloyed pleasure your performance was, how much I enjoyed meeting you (too briefly), and how moved I am by the dedication you instilled in everyone, making my opera Bandanna an important event in their lives. I truly and sincerely admire your work, and hope to work with you again.” DARON HAGEN
“This orchestra is one of the city's best kept secrets. Their skills, dedication and responsiveness to young music director Mark Heron made Sibelius' Second Symphony a thrilling experience.” NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST
“After the composer, the
hero of the evening was Mark Heron. His vision, determination,
organisation, musical brilliance and sheer ambition (for his musicians,
not for himself) gave all present a night they shall never forget.”
WINDS MAGAZINE