Garry Walker holds the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Permanent Guest Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Conductor of Paragon Ensemble.

Born and educated in Edinburgh, Garry Walker took up the ‘cello at the age of seven, played in the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra and became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University and was awarded a Junior Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1997 to study with Edward Warren and Timothy Reynish. This enabled him to conduct a wide repertoire from the baroque to the contemporary, performing with many celebrated musicians.

In November 1998 he conducted a highly acclaimed performance of Henze’s opera Pollicino which opened the “Henze at the RNCM” Festival and subsequently conducted the RNCM Sinfonia at the Montepulciano Festival in Italy.

In May 1999 Garry Walker gained the first distinction ever awarded by the RNCM for conducting and in July 1999 won the Sixth Leeds Conductor’s Competition.

His relationship with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra began in October 1999 when he made his notably successful London debut replacing at very short notice an indisposed Daniele Gatti in the orchestra’s opening concert of their season at the Barbican.

In January 2000 he took part in a masterclass with Pierre Boulez and the London Symphony Orchestra as a result of which he was invited to take part in the Conducting Academy with Pierre Boulez at the Aix en Provence Festival in the summer of 2000.

In the UK Garry Walker has worked with such orchestras as the Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and Scottish Symphony Orchestras, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, English Northern Philharmonia, London Sinfonietta, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. Chamber orchestras include the Northern Sinfonia, Ensemble 10:10, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

He has appeared regularly at the Edinburgh Festival since 2002 conducting concerts with the Edinburgh Festival Ensemble, Paragon Ensemble, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Royal Scottish National Orchestra including a performance of Mahler Symphony No 2 in 2003 and a much acclaimed production of Curlew River in 2005 and in 2006 he returned to conduct a new opera by Stuart MacRae, The Assassin Tree. This was a co-production with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

In Germany he has conducted a tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and a series of concerts with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Germany at the beginning of 2003 to make his debut with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and again in 2005 with the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Hannover.

In 2004 he appeared for the first time with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philahrmonique de Luxembourg and has recently made his debut with Collegium Musicum in Denmark.

Other future engagements include concerts with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in addition to his regular appearances with the RSNO, RPO and Paragon Ensemble. He will make his début at English National Opera in 2007/8 conducting The Turn of The Screw and his début for Opéra de Lyon in the same season conducting a production of Curlew River.

An enthusiastic hill walker and climber, Garry Walker has recently completed his mission to climb all 284 Munros.