Michael Seal is associate conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, an appointment recognising his work as assistant conductor, and the special relationship he has built with the orchestra (he is a former violinist with the orchestra). He has a particular bond with the CBSO Youth Orchestra and is also artistic advisor and conductor of the CBSOYO Academy, a chamber orchestra formed in 2007.
He has worked with the finest orchestras in the UK, among them the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ulster Orchestra. Abroad, he has conducted the Brussels Philharmonic, WDR Funkhausorchester Köln, hr-Sinfonieorchester Frankfurt, KBS Symphony Orchestra, Seoul, Kringkastingsorkestret (the Norwegian Radio Orchestra), Odense Symfoniorkester, Joensuu City Orchestra, Orquesta Académica del Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Trondheim Symfoniorkester, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. He made his most recent Scandinavian débuts with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, both of which immediately re-invited him. His début with the Philharmonia Orchestra, in London, also led to an immediate re-invitation.
His love of opera has led to critically acclaimed performances of Puccini’s Il trittico at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and he has assisted both Sakari Oramo and Andris Nelsons in performances of Peter Grimes, Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier, Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, and Der fliegende Holländer.
During the global pandemic of 2020/21, Michael Seal started his podcast, ‘a mic on the podium’, weekly interviews with other prominent conductors, which has gained rave reviews and now been placed in the National Sound Archive at the British Library.
www.michaelseal.com