Stephen Maddock OBE
Stephen Maddock has been Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire since May 2023, following almost 24 successful years as Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In July 2023, Stephen was awarded the first President’s Medal from The Birmingham & Midland Institute, In recognition of his many years of service at the international renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Stephen was born in Lichfield, went to school in Sussex, and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at New College, Oxford, graduating in 1990. After three years with BBC Radio 3 he was appointed Planning Assistant for the BBC Proms, and in 1995 the new role of Administrator was created for him. In this capacity he oversaw all aspects of artistic planning, logistics, budgeting, broadcast liaison, marketing and public affairs for the BBC Proms until the end of the 1999 season, a period which saw a significant expansion of the festival's scale of activities, international profile, range of repertoire and performers, and its live and broadcast audiences.
In 1999 he was appointed Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, where he was responsible for all the activities of one of the world's great symphony orchestras, and also for its choruses, its youth orchestra, its learning programme and its administrative and rehearsal home, CBSO Centre. He was also responsible for an innovative partnership with the Shireland multi-academy trust in Sandwell, leading to the creation of the Shireland CBSO Academy, which opens in September 2023.
During Stephen’s time at the helm, the CBSO won consistent acclaim for its work with Music Directors Sakari Oramo, Andris Nelsons and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, and Principal Guest Conductors Edward Gardner and Kazuki Yamada. The orchestra and its choruses undertook 78 tours to 34 countries in 4 continents, including a US tour in October 2022 which ended in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall, New York. The Orchestra recorded more than 70 CDs across almost every major label (and won the Gramophone Recording of the Year award twice), while hundreds of CBSO concerts were shared on radio, TV and on a range of digital platforms. It gave World or UK Premieres of more than 160 new works, appeared every year at the BBC Proms, and its work was recognised on multiple occasions at the RPS Music Awards, Gramophone Awards, Sky South Bank Awards and with other international prizes.
Stephen has also been a CD reviewer for the BBC Music Magazine and programme note writer for the Wigmore Hall, an artistic assessor for the Scottish Government, a member of the National Directors’ Forum of the National Campaign for the Arts, and he has been a board member of the Association of British Orchestras, Warwick Arts Centre, Birmingham Arts Marketing, Marketing Birmingham, Culture Central, Henry Barber Trust and a Governor of Hodge Hill School. He is currently a Patron of Schola Cantorum of Oxford, and since 2003 he has been one half of the Midlands team on BBC Radio 4’s Round Britain Quiz.
He was awarded an OBE in 2017 for Services to Music, especially in the West Midlands.
Stephen lives in Solihull with his wife Kate and their two children. He is a lapsed violinist, singer and conductor, and any time that he is not at concerts, theatre or watching movies is spent watching his other great passion, Manchester City FC.