Leadership speaker, Alice Farnham, is listed in Classic FM Today’s Ten Best Women Conductors and in the BBC Woman’s Hour Music Power List. She was trained in Russia and is an Internationally renowned Conductor and enjoys a distinguished global conducting career. Alice is also an accomplished inspirational speaker and much in demand for corporate events

Background

Alice is a graduate of St. Hugh’s College Oxford University where she held an Organ Scholarship.  In 2014 Alice Co-Founded Women Conductors – largely because of the outcry that Marin Alsop was the first woman to conduct the Last Night of the Proms.  At the time, the gender ratio of women holding conducting positions in professional UK orchestras was 1.4%.  As a result of this challenge, Alice encouraged more female professional musicians and students to try conducting, running inspirational and award-winning workshops and programmes both in the UK and internationally.

International communications

Alice focuses on confidence building techniques, acting and communication skills.  Since 2014 she has worked with over 400 women and many of these continue their conducting training and are embarking on successful careers.  As a result she has been invited to talk about her work not just in the UK, but in the US, Australia, Ireland, Sweden – in public and also on the radio, webinars, and podcasts.

Current Projects

In 2019 she conducted a ground-breaking authentic audience participation performance of Mozart’s Paris Symphony with the BBC Concert Orchestra.   She has also conducted the opera/dance hybrid Carmen Moves and Philip Glass’ Satygraha with Cirkus Cikör at Folkoperan Stockholm.

Guest conducting includes major international opera houses such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, Calgary Opera.

She was Music Director of Welsh National Youth Opera for award-winning productions. She returns for their 2021 season.

Motivational speaker

Alice is an engaging and charismatic international speaker.  Her show reel can be viewed here. Key themes in her interactive presentations that originate from the music industry and resonate with business audiences include:

• Creative leadership
• Working under pressure / Thinking on your feet?
• Diversity
• Effective communication
• Teamwork
• Confidence building techniques
• Mentoring
• Embracing change
• Building trust
• Body language

Feedback

“I whole-heartedly recommend Alice as a speaker.” Gillian Moore CBE – Director, Southbank Centre.

“Alice is a warm, natural communicator – disarmingly frank about the world of classical music, with valuable lessons for effective business leadership.” David McGuire – Creative Director, Radix Communications, B2B Technology Copywriters.

“… her accessible, down-to-earth manner, her humour, and her passion on the subject of opportunities for women inspired all of us—both men and women—to continue to strive for swift and meaningful change. All in a day’s work for such a thought-provoking and engaging guest speaker.” Susan Calvin – Director of Media & PR The Dallas Opera.

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