Chromatica Orchestra is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musical talent.
“The spirit of the performance and the clear enjoyment of the Chromatica players held it all together… They had a ball, and that communicated to the audience”
– Bachtrack
Chromatica Orchestra is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musical talent, bringing together outstanding emerging orchestral players with brilliant soloists. Oliver Cope became our first Principal Conductor in 2026.
We made our debut at Battersea Arts Centre in London in October 2024, and since then we have performed with soloists including violinists Francesca Dego, Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and Kristine Balanas, clarinettist Julian Bliss, horn player Ben Goldscheider, tenor Robin Tritschler, mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, pianist Ryan Wang, and conductors Tess Jackson and Charlotte Politi.
Players who have worked with us have gone on to win positions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Oliver Cope
Principal Conductor
Oliver Cope is a British conductor and our Principal Conductor. A prize-winner at the 2026 Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition, he has also taken First Prize at both the Koussevitzky International Conducting Competition and the International Athens Conducting Competition.
Oliver conducts across the UK and Europe, working with orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. During the 2026/27 season, he returns to Bamberg for a BR-KLASSIK studio production with the Bamberger Symphoniker, as well as taking part in the Solti and Hong Kong International Conducting Competitions.
He has also conducted Eugene Onegin and The Rape of Lucretia with Hampstead Garden Opera, and in 2026 leads British Youth Opera’s production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at Battersea Arts Centre.
A graduate of Clare College, Cambridge, Oliver went on to study conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was awarded the Hugh S. Robertson Prize for Orchestral Conducting.
In addition to being a conductor Oliver is also a prize-winning harpist and pianist.
Engage nurturing the potential of school-age musicians
Our support for young musicians runs through established partnerships with the Music in Secondary Schools Trust (MiSST) and Bobby Moore Academy, and new collaborations with several South London music hubs. The orchestra’s work in this field is centred around empowering secondary school-age musicians and giving them autonomy over their own musical experiences, with a particular focus on conducting opportunities for students from a range of backgrounds. Activities will include side-by-side opportunities, conducting workshops and coaching, family concerts, and creative composition sessions.
Board of
Trustees
Charles Lewington
Chairman(CEO Hanover Communications)