Double Bass

Stacey Richard Watton

Conductor and Music Director
International Solo Bass
Chamber Musician
Principal Double Bass
Musicians Contractor

CONTACT
staceywattonconductor@gmail.com
+44 7811 373415

Orchestra Double Bass CV

Double Bass Positions

Esprit Ensemble – Principal Bass, Artistic/Managing Director, Concerto Soloist 
National Symphony Orchestra – Principal Bass – Current
Chamber Domaine – Solo Bass – Current
Alina Orchestra – Principal Bass – Current
London Chamber Orchestra – Principal Bass 2000-2022 Concerto Soloist
London Mozart Players – Principal Bass 2006-2019 Concerto Soloist
Orchestra of the Swan – Principal Bass 2014-2019
Primavera Chamber Orchestra  – Principal Bass 1997- 2015 Concerto Soloist
Oxford Philharmonic – Principal Bass 2017-2021
Johann Strauss Orchestra – Principal Bass – 2002-2018
English Solosist’s Ensemble – Solo Bass
London Festival of Chamber Music – Solo Bass

Prizes

Prize Winner at the International Koussevitsky Competition Moscow 1995.
Eugene Cruft Prize for Double Bass 1993.

Chamber Music Experience

Spectrum Concerts Berlin Philharmonie – Concerto Soloist
Julian Rachlin Festival Bergen – Solo Bass
Julian Rachlin & Friends Dubrovnik  – Soloist
Janine Jansen International Festival  Vredenburg  – Concerto Soloist
Baverian Radio Orchestra Orchestra  – Concerto Soloist
Eilat International Festival Israel  – Solo Bass
Steven Isserlis Bath Mozart Fest & Wigmore Hall  – Soloist
Gulbenkian Festival Belcea Quartet  – Solo Bass
Perth International Festival Belcea Quartet  – Solo Bass
Florestan Trio  – Solo Bass
Kennedy  – Solo Bass
Locrian Ensemble  – Concerto Soloist
Wanstead Festival Concerts – Concerto Soloist
Aberystwyth Festival Symanowski Quartet – Solo Bass

Orchestral Experience

Royal Concertgebouw Holland  – Guest Principal Principal Trial
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra  – Guest Principal Principal Trial
London Philharmonic Orchestra  – Guest Principal Co-Principal Trial
Royal Scottish National Orchestra – Guest Principal
Hallé  – Guest Principal Principal Trial
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra  – Guest Principal
BBC National Orchestra of Wales – Guest Principal
BBC Philharmonic – Guest Principal Principal Trial
BBC Concert Orchestra  – Guest Principal
BBC Scottish – Guest Principal
Russian Chamber Orchestra  – Guest Principal
Tchaikovsky Camerata- Guest Principal
Amsterdam Sinfonietta - Guest Principal
City of London Sinfonia  – Guest Principal
Orchestra of St John’s  – Guest Principal
Guildhall String Ensemble – Guest Principal
English Chamber Orchestra  – Guest Principal
Moscow Virtuosi – Guest Principal
Britten Sinfonia  – Guest Principal
Northern Sinfonia  – Guest Principal Principal Trial
City of Oxford Orchestra  – Guest Principal Concerto Soloist
Mozart Festival Orchestra – Guest Principal
Ambache Ensemble – Guest Principal
London Pops Orchestra – Guest Principal
Composer’s Ensemble  – Guest Principal
Ulster Orchestra Belfast – Guest Principal
National Symphony Orchestra Dublin – Guest Principal
Oxford Philharmonic  – Guest Principal
London Pro-Arte  – Guest Principal
Southern Pro-Arte  – Guest Principal
Brandenburg Sinfonia – Guest Principal Concerto Soloist
London Octave – Guest Principal
Lontano  – Soloist
London Musici – Guest Principal
Tango Siempre  – Solo Bass
Bournemouth Sinfonietta – Trial Co-Principal
English National Opera – Guest Principal
London Symphony Orchestra
English Classical Players – Principal 2000-2009

Sessions

First Take Music  – Principal Bass
Music Solutions  – Principal Bass
Isobel Griffths   – Guest Principal
Andy Brown   – Guest Principal
Cathy Giles   – Guest Principal
George Hamer   – Guest Principal
Alan Wilson   – Guest Principal
Paul Wing   – Guest Principal
Colin Sheen   – Guest Principal
Mike Fuller   – Guest Principal
Rosie Wetters   – Guest Principal
Cool Music  – Guest Principal
Dominique Le Genre   – Solo Bass
Red Rooster Film and TV
Gavin Wright
Sally Ewins
Juslin Pook
Sue Mitcham
Tonia Davall
LSO
LPO

West End Shows

The Lion King – Associate Conductor 2013-
Les Misérables  – Associate Music Director 2011-2012
Love Never Dies – Member/ Associate Music Director
Sound Of Music  – Member 2006-2009
Napoleon – Member 2000-2001
Scrooge
My Fair Lady
Producers
Ragtime
Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne
Martin Guerre

Head Hunted

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – Principal
BBC Wales 1997 & 2012 – Principal
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – Principal
Hallé – Principal
Northern Sinfonia – Principal

Classical Conducting

MKCO 2014
Guest Conductor/ Principal Conductor Trial
Dvorak String Serenade
Fauré Pavane
Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations
Fauré Elégie
Schubert 5th Symphony
Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana

Vassa City Orchestra, Finland 2013
Mozart 39th Symphony
Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks
Faure Le Tombeau de Couperin
Brahms Symphony no.2

Seinajoki, Finland 2013
Prokofiev Classical Symphony
Schubert Symphony no.6

Kuopio Symphony Orchestra 2012
Dvorak 9th Symphony Elgar ‘cello Concerto
Klami Sea Pictures
Strauss Wind Symphony
Dvorak Serenade for Strings
Julie Cooper, The Sceptre of the Dove

Esprit Ensemble 2003
Current Principal Conductor and Music Director
Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasilieres
Siegfried Idyll Wagner
Mahler 4th Symphony Chamber Version
(Klaus Simon)

West End Conducting

The Lion King (Sir Elton John) – Associate Conductor 2013-
Les Misérables (Sir Cameron Mackintosh) – Associate Music Director 2011-2012
Love Never Dies (Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber) – Associate Music Director 2010-2011

Conducting Professors

Jorma Panula
Atso Almila, Sibelius Academy
Graduated as a Scholar with Distinction in Conducting from Guildhall School of Music in 1995 Conducting Scholarship Offered 1995 (Declined)

Performed Alongside

Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Teresa Berganza, Pincas Zuckerman, Itzhak Perlman, Montserrat Cabillé, Luciano Pavorotti, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Andras Schiff, Radu Lupu, Renée Fleming, Willard White, Wynton Marsalis, Kung Wa Chung, Sarah Chang, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, Lutoslawski, Rostropovich, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Mariss Jansons, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Joshua Bell, Mischa Maisky, Ian Bostridge, Mark Ainsley, Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Gustavo Núñez, Henk Rubingh, Torlief Thédeen, Radovan Vlatkovic, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Milan Turkovic, Martin Frost, Nigel Kennedy, Nick Dodd, Sir Roger Moore, John Malkovich, Sir Michael Parkinson, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, George Michael, Roxette, Boy George, West Life, Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Travis, Mushroom, Michael Ball, Enya, Diana Rigg, Jim Davidson, Griff Rhys Jones, Simon Callow, Rory Bremner, Selina Scott, Vanessa May, Simon Callow, Peter Gabriel, Kylie Minogue, Dame and Edna Everage to name but a few… also Sir Roger Moore 007 see video clip

View Double Bass Biography

“He knows instinctively what musicians need!”
Tristan Fry, Principal Timpanist, Academy of St Martin in the Fields
“Stacey has a great future as a conductor. He has a very positive charisma combined with a humble way of working with others – and the music? the essence of it!”
Atso Almila, Head of Conducting, Sibelius Academy
“ Stacey communicates with great assurance, impressive for his clear communication of ideas as well as the astute efficiency of his rehearsal technique.”
Ian Jones, Assistant Head of Keyboard, Fellow of the Royal College of Music
“A total pleasure... All the music flowed totally naturally. Wonderful!”
Ben Dawson, Concert Pianist
“Impressed! I enjoyed his stick technique very much, fluid and clear... loved the way he coloured, dynamics and articulation all so clear in left hand, it was really exciting! ”
Stephen Brooker, Global Music Supervisor, Cameron Mackintosh
“With Stacey at the front we were enabled. A bunch of musicians became a group, much greater than the sum of its parts”
Kate Musker, Principal Violist, Nyman band
“Stacey looks in control while letting the orchestra play…I like that!”
Matthew Coman, Concert Promotor, Spain
“Stacey’s début solo disc, in the company of pianist Jenny Trew and Tristan Fry on percussion, shows him to be a versatile and accomplished artist.”
Bassist Magazine (Classical Music Magazine)
“Charismatic, engaging musician, conducts with total passion, thoroughly enjoyable. Full of flair and energy, combining his musicianship with a natural ability to communicate.”
Fiona Cross, Principal Clarinettist
“a natural musician that as a Conductor is extremely alert to nuances in the score, lifting the music well off the page. A really enjoyable experience.”
Lynda Houghton, Principal Bass, Academy of St Martin in the Fields Orchestra
“Stacey clearly has an incredibly natural facility for conducting! Clear and expressive and I like the way he shows the musical ideas. All his experience as a musician shines through.”
Neil Thompson, Conductor
“He performs in a relaxed, happy, meaningful way, This man is certainly ready to conduct anything from the entire repertoire.”
Tristan Fry, Principal Timpanist, Academy of St Martin in the Fields
“Yes! You describe the music!” Dvorák 9
Jorma Panula
“A versatile and accomplished artist”
Classical Music Magazine
“A Wizard of the Double Bass.”
Scottish Herald
“...his fiendishly difficult Double Bass solo Bottesini’s second concerto- a flowery and flowing. Perhaps Double Bass players of this calibre are hard to come by?”
Western Evening Standard
“What a group, talk about ESP! It’s always nice to see musicians enjoying themselves and Stacey had a wail of a time!”
Guardian

“A versatile and accomplished artist” was how Classical Music Magazine described Stacey many years ago and the Scottish press heralded him as a ”A Wizard” of the Double Bass. Neither may have realised at the time that more versatilities and wand waving were to follow. Stacey is Principal Double Bass with the London Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Orchestra of the Swan, Primavera Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Domaine, the English Soloist’s Ensemble, the National Symphony and the Johann Strauss Gala Orchestras. He is also a Principal Bass for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Stacey has also appeared as a guest principal with larger groups such as the Royal Concertgebouw, the Royal and London Philharmonics, the Hallé, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He is Principal Bass, Principal Conductor and Founder of the Esprit Ensemble LTD.

Stacey made his concerto début on the Bass at the age of thirteen and on the Piano at seventeen. He won the Eugene Cruft Prize for the Double Bass at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied as a scholar and later taught. Stacey appeared live on Russian television and radio after becoming a prize winner at the first International Koussevitsky Double Bass competition in Moscow in 1995.

Having had a tremendously busy career as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and orchestra principal performing on recordings, live television and radio broadcasts, not to mention having a busy commercial career recording the sound tracks to numerous Hollywood films. Stacey has now embarked on a career as a conductor making his major London début conducting Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom sequel “Love Never Dies”. Continuing to show his adaptability he recently conducted Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Mahler’s very technical 4th Symphony, with some of the professions’ finest musicians at his own music festival with the ensemble he founded in 2002. The Mahler performance was well received and he was subsequently invited to become an Associate Music Director at Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s world famous epic show ‘Les Misérables.’ This in turn lead him to his current Associate Conducting position at Disney’s world famous ‘Lion King’ at the Lyceum Theatre in the heart of the West End. Stacey regularly flies to Finland to conduct, recently giving performances of Brahms 2, Dvorak 9, Elgar ‘cello concerto, Strauss Wind Symphony and Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks. He has also appeared as guest conductor with the Milton Keynes City Orchestra conducting Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations along side his long time friend, and esteemed ‘cellist of the Tippett Quartet, Bozidar Vukotic.

Jorma Panula, legendary conducting guru, who mentored the likes of Esa Pekka Salonen, Sakari Oramo, Mikko Franck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste said, “Yes!! You describe the music!” after he saw Stacey conduct Dvorak’s 9th Symphony, with the Koupio Symphony Orchestra in Finland. Atso Almila, Jorma’s esteemed colleague and highly regarded composer, conductor and head of conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy said “Stacey has so much more to offer than just clear beating like most other conductors offer these days and he looks like he loves being on the podium. Even more interestingly his approach is humble, honest and non stuffy. He has a very positive charisma combined with a humble way of working with others and the music? – the essence of it.”

Stacey’s career as a soloist has seen him perform numerous concertos in prestigious venues throughout the world and is one of the few bassists in England to make regular concerto appearances. He was deeply honoured to perform Bottesini’s B Minor Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra at the Vredenburg International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, Holland. He impressed audience and colleagues alike at the ease at which he performed the technically challenging Dragonetti’s Grande Allegro with the wonderfully spirited London Chamber Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square, London. Stacey has also enjoyed sharing the recital stage with eminent ‘cellists Steven Isserlis, Torleif Thedeen, and Daniel Mueller-Schott. Performances with the “Mighty” Belcea Quartet and Ian Bostridge at the Gulbenkian International Music Festival Lisbon and Perth International Music Festival were also a highlight of his playing career. Other International artists such as Nigel Kennedy have commented that Stacey is a “remarkable talent”. Each year he is reunited with his chamber music family at Julian Rachlin and Friends International Festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia and at Janine Jansen’s International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, Holland. He is always very proud to be included in a family which also includes one of the most famous ‘cellists of all, Mischa Maisky and the ground breaking revolutionary Clarinettist Martin Frost. Oh and not forgetting Sir Roger Moore 007. See his Elephant on utube and all will be revealed.

Stacey is Principal Conductor and the Managing and Artistic Director of “The Esprit Ensemble Limited” and his recording company and session orchestra, “First Take Music”, regularly record for commercial sessions at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Teresa Berganza, Pincas Zuckerman, Itzhak Perlman, Maxim Vengerov, Montserrat Cabillé, Luciano Pavorotti, Dame Kiri te Kanawa, Andras Schiff, Radu Lupu, Renée Fleming, Willard White, Wynton Marsalis, Kung Wa Chung, Sarah Chang, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, Lutoslawski, Rostropovich, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Mariss Jansons, Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, Joshua Bell, Mischa Maisky, Ian Bostridge, Mark Ainsley, Anthony Marwood, Richard Lester, Gustavo Núñez, Henk Rubingh, Torlief Thédeen, Radovan Vlatkovic, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Milan Turkovic, Martin Frost, Nigel Kennedy, Nick Dodd, Sir Roger Moore, John Malkovich, Sir Michael Parkinson, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, George Michael, Roxette, Boy George, West Life, Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Travis, Mushroom, Michael Ball, Enya, Diana Rigg, Jim Davidson, Griff Rhys Jones, Simon Callow, Rory Bremner, Selina Scott, Vanessa May, Simon Callow, Peter Gabriel, Kylie Minogue and Dame Edna Everage to name but a few…