Our Team

Orr Guy

Musical Director

Israel-born conductor Orr Guy has benefited from some of Europe’s finest conducting training. He completed his Bachelor’s training at the Buchmann Mehta School of Music and Master’s at the Royal Northern College of Music, graduating top of his class with distinction. Shortly after graduating, Orr made his Bridgewater Hall debut, stepping in to conduct the RNCM Symphony Orchestra after Yan Pascal Tortelier cancelled
on short notice. In 2024, he was a conducting fellow at the Carlos Miguel
Prieto Conducting Fellowship, completing his artist diploma with distinction.

In 2021, Orr won first prize ex aequo in the International Conducting Competition Città di Brescia. He also won first prize at the Buchmann-Mehta
School of Music Chamber Music Competition and won two scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Additionally, he was awarded the
RNCM’s Mortimer Furber Prize for Conducting. In 2020, Orr was invited to participate in the Gustav Mahler conducting competition.

In 2024, Orr assisted Joseph Swensen with Orchestre National de Bordeaux for the live recording of Swensen’s ‘Ring Odyssey’ and again in April 2026 for the world premiere of Swensen’s Hafiz symphony. In 2022, he assisted Catherine Larsen-Maguire with Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin. In September 2022, he was appointed assistant conductor of Nova-Orchester-Wien and made his debut with the orchestra on
December 2025.

In 2023, Orr participated in the Domaine Forget conducting Programme where he worked daily with Yannick Nézet-Séguin. After rigorous audition rounds, Nézet-Séguin chose him to conduct The Flying Dutchman overture with Orchestre Métropolitain. He also participated in numerous masterclasses with Sir Mark Elder, Nicolás Pasquet, Johannes Schläfli, and at the Järvi Academy. In 2019, he was accepted into the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme with Antonio Pappano. Orr has conducted orchestras including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain, Bamberg Symphoniker, and Hradec Kralove Philharmonic.

Since 2018, Orr has performed the role of Musical Director of the Pennine Spring Music Festival.

Ian Crawford

Choral Director

Ian Crawford grew up in London and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. After training as a music teacher, Ian moved to the North-West of England where he has worked for many years as a choral director, composer and as Director of Music at a leading secondary school. He has over twenty years’ experience of directing chamver choirs, choral societies and choruses. Recent highlights included Finzi’s In Terra Pax with Northern Chamber Orchestra, Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and four seasons directing Nantwich Singers, one of the NW’s leading chamber choirs. 

Following his LRSM in Choral Direction (the culmination of his training with abcd where his tutors included Keith Orrell (former PSM Choral Director), Peter Broadbent and Neil Ferris), Ian has continued to study choral conducting through courses and masterclasses organised by Sing Ireland, working with Kari Turunen, Zoltan Pad and Maria Goundorina amongst others.

In addition to conducting, Ian is an established choral composer and his work is published by Oxford Universtiy Press and Novello/Hal Leonard. His latest carol setting, Adam lay ybounden, was the winning entry in the Bach Choir’s 2025 Sir David Willcocks Carol Competition. 

 

 

Liz Ross

Leader

 

 

 

 

 

Diana Doherty

Chair of PSM Committee