Meet Hugh McLaren

Conductor

He is marking the beat, and dynamics for the orchestra, so that the music is held together.

Hugh’s parents were both cathedral choristers at Rochester.  Unsurprisingly, his formative years were spent in the English choral tradition.  At school, piano and clarinet were soon cast aside for drums and orchestral percussion.

Hugh has played for most, if not all, of the amateur ensembles in Leicestershire and beyond over the last fifteen-odd years, while still somehow managing to hold down a full-time job as a computer network engineer.  More recently, Hugh’s focus has increasingly been on orchestral conducting, studying with Denise Ham (Royal Academy of Music), John Longstaff (Northern Ballet) and Robert Houlihan (RTE Symphony Orchestra, Ireland). 

He has conducted the student orchestra at Loughborough University since its inception in 2015, and is delighted to be conducting the Leicestershire Sinfonia.  After several years as an orchestral percussionist, Hugh took up conducting in 2013, attending the renowned conducting course at Sherbourne Summer School of Music for several years.

During 2021/22 Hugh participated in a year long, part-time conducting course at Greenwich Music School in London, and in 2022 he was accepted as an entrant in the Lake Como conductors competition. He conducts various ensembles around the South of England, and joined Leicestershire Sinfonia as conductor in 2016.

Conductors act as guides to the orchestras or choirs they conduct. They choose the works to be performed and study their scores, to which they may make certain adjustments (such as in tempo, articulation, phrasing, repetitions of sections), work out their interpretation, and relay their vision to the performers.

Jazz Piano

The physical becomes important when verbal is not possible (when the audience is present and in earshot). This is when the arm waving comes into play. The movement in the left hand signifies dynamics, emotion and expression while the right hand is mainly used to signify speed and beat.

Conductors' gestures are the primary method to communicate tempo, dynamics and other musical ideas, and that little stick — called a baton — is used to enhance those movements. Think of it as an extension of the arm and hand.