Big Ben Phonogram

Dr. Vernon "Tod" Handley C.B.E.
Conductor

Recording on Big Ben

Dvorák Biblical Songs / Fernström Symphony No. 12

861-006-2

Dvorák Tone Poems

571-010-2

Artist Biography

One of England's busiest and most recorded conductors of the late twentieth century, Vernon Handley emerged since the 1970s as the successor to Sir Adrian Boult and Sir John Barbirolli as the leading exponent of English music. Like Boult before him, he made a career specialty out of performing and recording symphonic music from England, some of it well-known and much of it overlooked by previous generations of conductors and audiences. Vernon George Handley was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and the Guildhall School of Music. His earliest engagements as conductor were with the Oxford University Musical Club and Union, the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society, and the orchestra of the Hatfield School of Music and Drama. He became a professor of orchestra and conducting at the Royal College of Music during 1966, a post he held for six years. During the 1960s and 1970s, Handley was a frequent guest conductor with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Welsh Orchestra and the BBC Northern Symphony, the London Philharmonic, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

He was outright winner three times of the Gramophone Record of the Year, as well as runner up twice and nominated 8 times. At the Gramophone Awards of 2003 he was awarded a Special Award for services to British Music. He won the BPI Classical award twice and his recording of Walton's First Symphony was declared 'Collectors Choice' in Classic CD. He won a Grand Prix du Disque for a recording of French repertoire with the Philharmonia Orchestra. In 1983 the London Philharmonic made Vernon Handley their Associate Conductor in recognition of his long relationship with the orchestra. He was Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Ulster Orchestra, Chief Guest Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Chief Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Chief Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra. During this time Vernon Handley was Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music and was created F.R.C.M. He was also regularly conducting the National Youth Orchestra and the World Youth Orchestra and was widely known for his encouragement of young professional players.

Vernon Handley was Conductor Emeritus of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Conductor Laureate of the Ulster Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was created Honorary Fellow of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1990 and was elected an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford in 1999. Vernon Handley was appointed Commander of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours, June 2004. In May 2007 he was the recipient of only the second Lifetime Achievement Award to be given by the Classical Brits. Dr Vernon Handley was accompanied on stage by the Duchess of Cornwall to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Classical Brits 2007. For more than 40 years he distinguished himself as a champion of British classical music. Despite many years of illness and difficulties, Handley remained active almost to the end, more recently recording Elgar's Cello Concerto with Natalie Clein and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in its annual Proms season in August 2008.