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Anthony Inglis wanted to be a conductor from the age of 6 and indeed began at that age. He was at his pre-prep school in a place just outside Sevenoaks Kent, when his music teacher, spying some talent asked him to conduct the school choir. He has since stated, it was such a life-changing moment, he can remember everything about it: the tune, set up of the choir, perucussion, teacher on the piano, and an incident where he first made an audience laugh. He was conducting in two, and on one of his upbeats, he lost the baton which flew into the audience making all the mums scream as they wondered what had fallen amongst them! This soon turned to laughter when he first looked in puzzlement at his hand, then turned round to look for it in the auditorium, where it was solemnly handed back to him so he could finish the performance. His next school was at Hordle House, just outside Milford-on-Sea on the south coast of England, where he outgrew the talents of the local music teacher. In fact, he lost an argument with her once as he stated that F major did not have a Bb. She was so incensed that she jabbed her pencil into the back of his hand where he still carries the scar to this day to remind him of his foolishness! After Hordle he won a music scholarship to Marlborough College, a well known English public school, where he could immerse himself in all the school had to offer, which was immense. A father Willis organ, concerts, orchestras, choirs, trips to local halls etc. He also became an amateur actor and there is an amazing story of how he once double booked himself to play Portia in Julius Caesar (it was an all boys boarding school) and play the piano in a Beethoven piano quintet (he forgets which one!) on the same evening. Undaunted he persuaded the organisers of the concert to programme the Beethoven at a specific time which coincided with a length of time that Portia was not appearing on the stage. However, there was no time to change. So the concert goers in the Adderley at Marlborough College were greeted with the incongruous sight of a string quartet playing in black tie and Anthony Inglis playing the piano in a mini dress, tights and long blonde wig that the director of Julius Casear had chosen for him to wear for the play. He did not do well academically and left the school early with a grand total of 4 O levels, despite being given the opportunity to take Scripture O Level. "Everyone gets Scripture O Level in a term, however you Anthony, we'll give 2 terms". He still failed! He has since stated there was too much begatting: Jospeh begat Japhat etc!
At 16 he entered the Royal College of Music which is very close to the Royal Albert Hall, a building he was to get to know extremely well. He quickly absorbed himself into the musical life of London and stayed at The College for 5 years. His first concert there was to organise a Student's Association concert comprising the complete ballet score to Daphnis and Chloe. For the choir he engaged the Royal Choral Society, again a choir he was to get to know extremely well. The last time he conducted them (in 2010), there was still a lady there who took part in that concert! Further concerts followed: Scriabin Prometheus Poem of Fire, Verdi Requiem (again with the RCS) at the Military Academy Sandhurst, Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony to which he invited Bernard Haitink to conduct a rehearsal. However, after 5 years The College were beginning to think he should start his career and he began by playing the piano for shows: Leatherhead panto, West Side Story at The Collegiate (now The Bloomsbery) Theatre in a production of Bill Kenwright. Then he progressed to the West End. Irene with Dame Anna Neagle and Jon Pertwee, My Fair Lady directed by the lyricist Alan Jay Lerner who became a good friend and for whom he played the organ at the memorial service in St. Paul's Church Covent Garden. Three productions of Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver starring George Layton, Roy Hudd and the great Ron Moody in the last time he recreated his original role, and The Two Ronnies with Messers Barker and Corbett. During these formative years he worked with some stars of the music hall era and their followers: Jimmy Edwards, Hope & Keen, Hugh Lloyd, Lambert & Ross, John Junkin and Little & Large. He did two productions for Harold Fielding, one which travelled to Australia, the first time he visited this great country that he was to get to know well and the second which went to the London Palladium.
He then made a conscious decision to leave the West End and deliberately put himself out of work until the offer of conducting ballet came along, and he first of all conducted English National Ballet's production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Festival Hall and then Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake plus a triple bill for Birmingham Royal Ballet. The discipline of ballet conducting was not for him though and he left that world to pursue his concert career. He began regularly conducting The Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Royal Philharmonic in concerts for Victor Hochhauser and Raymond Gubbay, eventually taking Raymond's Classical Spectacular into the global phenomenon known today. In 2007 and after 15 years he decided to quit. He has a close association with a number of orchestras, regularly visiting the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, London Concert Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His own orchestra is the National Symphony Orchestra of which he is the Music Director and after their recent hugely successful trans-atlantic cruise on board the Queen Mary 2, they have an agreement to make the crossing every year, giving a series of concerts on board. He is Music Director for the Welsh mezzo-soprano singing sensation Katherine Jenkins and they have a close working relationship. He has not completely given up his West End work as he is also Music Supervisor/Consultant of Phantom of The Opera; a show he has been involved with from about 2 months after it opened in 1986. First he was brought in as Guest Conductor, taking over as Music Director 6 months later. After 18 months as Music Director, he resigned to be offered the new post of Music Supervisor. When he resigned from that role in 2002, he was offered a new position, that of Music Consultant. In 2010 he was offered his old job back of Music Supervisor and is now both Music Supervisor and Music Consultant! He returned to conducting the show in April 2008 when a brand new sound system was put into the theatre and both Cameron and Andrew wanted someone they could trust at the helm. He stayed about 8 weeks conducting 2 or 3 performances a week, and it is a source of great pride to him that his 3 children, all born well after he first started his involvement with the show, should have seen him conduct a performance. He regularly conducts concerts of all descriptions from Beethoven symphonies to naming ceremonies of ocean liners such as the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and the new Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth. Indeed he has a burgeoning career as a speaker and regularly lectures on board the Cunard ships on his life and time (so far) in music! If there's an orchestra involved, you can find Anthony Inglis conducting somewhere and not for nothing is he known amongst his colleagues as the conductor who can conduct anything. He can be found conducting award ceremonies at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic and conducting his own Romance for Violin and Orchestra with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; he can be found every New Year's Eve, as he has every year since 1993, in Symphony Hall Birmingham with the London Concert Orchestra ringing in the New Year until just after midnight, then hotfooting it down the M1 as he and the orchestra give the traditional New Year's Day afternoon concert in the Barbican Hall London.
He has a burgeoning film career which started in the 80's with appearances on the TV drama "Vanity Fair". Since then he has appeared in the Cole Porter biopic (as a conductor) "DeLovely" starring Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline and more recently Sherlock Holmes 2 with Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law, again as a conductor (typecast?).
THE YEAR 2011
The year started with filming at Elstree Studios for the new Sherlock Holmes movie in which he plays the role of a conductor. The film was released in December. He then went back into Phantom of The Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre as Music Supervisor retaining his role as Music Consultant. This was followed by trips in March to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Bangkok Symphony. He followed that with conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, celebrating Mikhail Gorbachov's 80th birthday. He had various concerts in April and May with a trip to Europe in June. July saw his first ever visit to South America and orchestras in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. Outdoor summer concerts happened in June, July and August culminating in a wonderful concert in August in Liverpool Cathedral with the RLPO during the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth's inaugural visit to the port of Liverpool. He followed that immediately with a trip to Australia and his debut with the Adelaide Symphony. The morning he arrived back from Australia he went into rehearsal at Ealing Film Studios for 10 days for the special 25th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall of Phantom of The Opera. There were 3 performances, the final one of which was broadcast live to cinemas throughout the world and is now available on DVD, Blu-Ray and CD. At the end of that extraordinary occasion, he took his own orchestra on the Queen Mary 2 during a Transatlantic voyage, giving a series of concerts on board. He then had his first holiday with the family; believe it or not, a Transatlantic voyage on board the Queen Mary 2!! November saw concerts with his debut with his own orchestra at his local theatre: The Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames. At the end of November he flew to Singapore and a concert with Katherine Jenkins and the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra. On his return he began his Christmas concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Symphony Hall Birmingham and The Barbican Hall in London.
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