Dexter Drown: Musical Director
Dexter Drown is an imaginative and versatile conductor who has been praised for his utterly magical performances of passion, confidence, and flair.
Alongside his work as conductor of the professional chamber orchestra, The Sinfonia Stellaris, Dexter has worked with musicians from the Orchestra of the Swan on premiere recordings of new works, led concerts with contemporary music ensemble The Hadit Collective, and conducted the Midland Sinfonia. As well as his work with professional
orchestras, Dexter is the Musical Director of the Midland Concert Orchestra and follows in the footsteps of Malcolm Sargent as Musical Director of the Leicester Symphony Orchestra.
The orchestra was founded in 1982 as the West Midland Light Orchestra, changing its name to the Midland Concert Orchestra in 2023 to better reflect the music we play. We are a 40+ piece ensemble of amateur players based in the West Midlands, playing songs from the libraries of Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, Loewe and more. We have unique arrangements of the best songs from Broadway, jazz standards and Great American Songbook era.
We play entirely for fun and for the shared love of the music.
About Us
Peter Tomlinson: President
Peter is President and Compere for MCO, and has an impressive broadcasting career with Harlech, ATV Midlands and Saga FM . Peter’s unrivalled experience and knowledge of our repertoire makes for an informative, entertaining and smooth running show, giving you backgrounds and insight into the music we play. You’ll learn much that you might not previously have known, and he has often given the musicians insider information on the music and composers.
See Peter's Wikipedia page here
Anne John: Chair
Anne is Chair of the MCO committee (and plays the bassoon). She also makes very good cakes!