Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey (2024)
Alaska-born conductor, scholar and educator Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey is emblematic of the 21st century’s newest vanguard of orchestral leadership—her bold orchestral initiatives are pioneering in tackling the pressing issues of our time and have been featured in BBC Music Magazine, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and on BBC Radio 3. Based in the UK, she is Director of Performance at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Conducting Fellow of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Conducting Associate and Director of Research for the Oxford Conducting Institute and Academic Lead for OAcademy, a global music conservatory which democratises access to elite orchestral education.
She holds a doctorate in Music from the University of Oxford and has held prestigious research positions at the University of Oxford (2017-2021) and University of Sheffield (2021-2024). Her research is focused on the socio-psychological and socio-political aspects of orchestral music-making—from the intricacies of co-performer communication in modern and historically informed contexts, to the politics of participation and orchestras' geo-political significance. Her scholarship has been published by Oxford University Press, Music & Science, and Nineteenth-Century Music Review amongst others. As part of her advocacy for historic and contemporary female composers she has recently recorded the complete surviving keyboard concerti of 18th-century Viennese composer Marianna Martines with pianist Idith Korman and the Oxford Philharmonic to be released on the Signum label in April 2026.
For more information, visit www.cayenna.info
Adrian Adlam (2020 - 2023)
The conductor and violinist Adrian Adlam, whose playing has been described in The Strad magazine as ‘florid, lyrical and majestic’, is the artistic director of the Internationale Fredener Musiktage in Germany. He takes annual responsibility for the commissioning of contemporary works for the festival, and over the years this has resulted in a substantial body of new work from composers including Michael Finnissy, Elena Firsova, John Woolrich, and many others.
His varied musical career has led to his appearance as leader with several European orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. Over the years he has collaborated with distinguished conductors such as Bernstein, Boulez, Solti, Mehta, Haitink, Tilson-Thomas and Norrington. He has broadcast for both radio and television, while his recordings have included major works by Beethoven, Bartok, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Korngold and Tchaikovsky. His live broadcasts of the Bartok Solo Sonata and the Berg Violin Concerto were enthusiastically received and described as ‘combining mature technical expertise with musical integrity’.
His conducting repertoire spans from the Baroque to 21st century composers, such as Daniel Ghisi whose latest work for string orchestra and electronics was given its first performance last Summer. He is the principal conductor of the Camerata Freden chamber orchestra, and this has involved numerous broadcasts, recordings and performances of Symphonies by Prokofiev and Haydn, as well as concertos by Shostakovich, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Copland and many others. Summer 2022 saw him direct the Piazzolla operita Maria de Buenos Aires.
David Hume (2017 – 2020)
David Hume has a long history with the Oxford Millennium Orchestra, having first joined them in 2009 as a violinist. Since then, he has cheerfully spent the majority of his OMO playing career either hidden at the back of the second violins, nervously waiting to play the bass drum, or trying to explain the charms of the two compositions which the orchestra commissioned him to write.
David’s conducting life began, out of necessity, with regular appearances as a guest conductor of the Merton College Orchestra, the St. Anne’s and St. John’s Orchestra (SASJO), and the Oxford Open Orchestra. David was also the musical director of the Corpus String Orchestra for a year, conducting highlights of the string repertoire from the Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings to Bernard Hermann’s Suite to Psycho, from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4 to a world première of a new work by Rachel Lewzey.
David originally came to Oxford to complete a D.Phil. and has recently returned to Oxford as a Research Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, where he drinks coffee, teaches, and writes about symmetries.
David O’Neill (2010 – 2017)
David served as Musical Director of the Oxford Millennium Orchestra for 8 years, 24 terms and 42 concerts. Before that he had been principal oboe, second oboe, third oboe, and sometime percussionist in the orchestra. OMO brought David’s conducting tally of Oxford ensembles to eight having had successes in the conducting competitions of the University Wind Orchestra twice and the Oxford University Philharmonia, and he was the founding conductor of the Univ. Wind Dectet, and the Graduate Philharmonia of Oxford (G.Phil. Oxon.).
David arrived to read Engineering Science as an undergraduate and Tenor Choral Scholar at University College in 2004; subsequently he was offered a place to continue his studies to work for a D.Phil. in Biomedical Engineering. Still not bored of Oxford, Dave moved to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the Dept. of Physiology. During these years he also held College Lecturererships in Engineering Science for New and Keble Colleges.
OMO’s traditions continued with David in charge, with performances always in the Sheldonian Theatre, regular use of the Oxford musical talent for concerto soloists, and summer tours to Europe. David also inherited the van-driving duties seemingly assigned to Musical Director despite OMO travelling to its furthest ever destinations in July 2011, to Porto, and to Budapest in 2012.
Charlie Wilson (2005 – 2010)
Charlie Wilson took the OMO baton from Nick Mumby and worked to maintain its somewhat unique position in Oxford, attracting high quality players from the Universities and the city community, performing major romantic works, new commissions and unconventional repertoire, and touring to Europe every summer. The orchestra visited Krakow, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Ljubljana, and also played at the Magdalen College Commemoration Ball, culminating in a spectacular performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture to accompanying programmed fireworks.
Charlie is a horn player by training, and was previously the principal horn of OMO. During 10 years in Oxford he conducted or played horn in more than 450 concerts and shows, with all of the University and most College ensembles, and anyone else who would have him. He was also president of the Oxford University Music Society.
Charlie moved to Lyon in 2010, and he is currently musical director of the Orchestre Symphonique des Gônes and of the Orchestre Harmonique Fidésian, as well as providing conducting support and being one of the principle horns for the Orchestre Symphonique de Lyon, Lyon’s premier amateur orchestra. He has pursued a career in neuroscience, and is currently a Tenured Researcher at INSERM, the French medical research institute, working at the Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute.
Nicholas Mumby (2000 – 2005)
Nicholas was the Principal Conductor of the Oxford Millennium Orchestra from 2000 to 2005. During his tenure with OMO he conducted much of the major symphonic repertoire, and worked with many soloists including Jonathan Darnborough, Stuart Baran and Charlie Wilson. He started the tradition of touring to Europe and organised four highly successful summer concert tours to France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Germany.
He studied conducting and organ under Dr Christopher Tinker, attended conducting classes with Dr Marios Papadopoulos, studied piano under Jonathan Darnborough and attended classes with Norma Fisher. In 2003 he was appointed as the first Conducting Apprentice at the Berkshire (USA) Choral Festival, held at Canterbury Cathedral.
Nick's other endeavours in the Oxford music scene included positions as the Master of Music at Pusey House, conductor of the Keble College Orchestra, music director for Oxford Millennium Opera and singing with all of the major choirs. He founded and directed the Oxford Spezzati Soloists & Orchestra – conducting 68 concerts over a 12 year period. He graduated with a degree in Classics in 2003 from Exeter College, Oxford, where he was also an Academical Clerk. He is a qualified lawyer and real estate partner at international law firm Gowling WLG.
Benjamin Wolf (1999 – 2000)
Benjamin Wolf founded the Oxford Millennium Orchestra in 1999, and handed it on to Nick Mumby when Finals revision got in the way. He has since spent many years balancing music-making with teaching and academic study. He works as a conductor, pianist, composer, singer and academic. He is Musical Director of the Zemel Choir, the choirs of Belsize Square Synagogue, the Wallace Ensemble and the Royal Free Music Society, and is leader of the bOYbershop quartet.
He has performed for major Jewish and interfaith festivals and events in the UK and Europe, and also for BBC documentaries and broadcasts, including the annual Holocaust Memorial broadcast on BBC 2. With the Zemel Choir he created the European Jewish Choral Festivals and, more recently, established Faithful Voices, an interfaith festival for London. Other performances have included three interfaith services at Westminster Abbey, performances at the International Louis Lewandowski Festival in Berlin, and concerts for the Sacrées Journées de Strasbourg. As composer, he has written music for the concert hall and the stage, while his singing is primarily focussed on performances with bOYbershop, for which he has written a number of arrangements and original compositions. His last major work, Armistice (a World War One oratorio), was recorded by the Zemel Choir in 2019 and released in 2020.
Following the award of a PhD in 2010, he worked as a visiting lecturer at Royal Holloway and Senior Associate Teacher at Bristol University. In 2011 he was appointed as Lecturer in Music at Regent’s University, London. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Music and Course Leader for the Foundation in Liberal Arts. He is delighted that OMO is still going and very grateful to all those people who have kept it alive over the past twenty-five years.