Rupert Bond

Rupert Bond was born in London.  He gained his Bachelor of Music at Goldsmiths' College, London University and then successfully auditioned for the Conductor's Course at the Royal Academy of Music, where he also studied Double Bass.  His most formative musical experience was as a student of George Hurst.  He also holds a Master of Music degree in Composition from Surrey University.  In 1999 he was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for "Services to Music".

He began his career as a free-lance conductor and bass player, but a change of direction led to him being appointed as Director of Music at James Allen's Girls' School in London - a post that was once held by Gustav Holst.  He was able to continue his conducting vocation and founded the professional orchestra Docklands Sinfonietta.  He also developed his skills as a composer and has written over 40 compositions.

In 2003 he returned to full-time conducting, spending time in New Zealand (2006-7) and also in South West England (2008-13), but then returned to South East England and now lives in Eynsford, Kent.  Recent projects have included producing a CD with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of music by the New Zealand composer Eric Biddington.  Rupert Bond regularly conducts many orchestras, including the Southwark Sinfonietta, European Doctors' Orchestra (June 2022 in the Czech Republic), Kingston 3AO, Sonnet Wind Orchestra, Wimbledon Community, Dulwich Symphony, Dartford Symphony, Suffolk Sinfonia and the Surrey Philharmonic.  He is  Musical Director of the Folkestone Symphony and this season  was appointed to a similar post at Wandsworth Symphony.

He believes passionately in Gustav Mahler's dictum, "in each performance a work has to be re-born".