Rumon Gamba

Conductor Rumon Gamba has been particularly known for his interest in film music. He has also conducted 20th century symphonic works, from Britain and beyond, and branched out into opera.
Gamba was born in Britain on November 24, 1972. He attended Durham University, studying music, and went on for conducting studies at London’s Royal Academy of Music. His principal teacher was Colin Metters, but he also worked with Sir Colin Davis, Martyn Brabbins, and Mark Wigglesworth, among others. Winning several prizes at the Royal Academy, Gamba began his conducting career as assistant conductor at the Havant Symphony Orchestra and the British Youth Opera. After several successful festival appearances, he broke through in 1998 with a win at the Lloyds Bank BBC Young Musicians Conductors Workshop competition in Manchester. That brought with it a BBC Philharmonic assistant conductorship and many appearances around Britain, as well as guest conducting appearances with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, Gamba became conductor and music director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, remaining there until 2010. Following that engagement, he moved to Sweden and took dual posts as music director of the Norrlands Opera and as conductor at Denmark’s Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. As an opera conductor, he has favored new music and conducted the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys with the English National Opera in 2011.
Gamba’s recording catalog is especially deep and has centered on film music, beginning with a recording of film scores by Georges Auric in 1998. Many of his recordings have been made with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and other British groups, for the Chandos Movies imprint. Gamba’s 2006 release The Film Music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold earned a Grammy award nomination in the U.S. In 2019, with the BBC Philharmonic, he released a recording of film music by composer Gerard Schurmann. ~ James Manheim