BIO
Kathryn McDowell joined the London Symphony Orchestra as Managing Director in 2005, working out of the city’s Barbican Centre. A pioneer in the then developing field of arts education, in the mid-1980s she created an extensive outreach program with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and in 1993 was the guiding force behind “The Turn of the Tide,” the first national educational project of the Association of British Orchestras (ABO). She also worked with Welsh National Opera and the Ulster Orchestra, before becoming Music Director of the Arts Council of England and later Chief Executive of the Wales Millennium Centre. Director of the City of London Festival from 2002 to 2005, she has also served as Chair of the ABO and as a Governor of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Among other distinctions, she holds the title of Commander of the British Empire.
