Martin West

Conductor Martin West has specialized in ballet, leading major ballet orchestras in both his native Britain and the U.S. He has also conducted orchestral music. West was born around 1970 in Bolton, in northwest England. His mother was a music teacher who exerted a strong influence on her son's choice of career, his father an examination administrator. West began his orchestral career at four, when his mother, unable to find a babysitter, added him to an orchestra's percussion section and told him to play the triangle. He switched to cello and played in Britain's National Youth Orchestra, which he also conducted at age 17. West studied mathematics at Cambridge University but continued to feel the pull of music, studying cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London and traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, for lessons at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with famed pedagogue Ilya Musin. In 1997, although he had seen only two ballets before in his life, West auditioned for an assistant conductor post with the English National Ballet. He was almost immediately appointed resident conductor and began to conduct the orchestra frequently. In 2004, he was elevated to principal conductor, a position he continues to hold. The following year, after two years of guest appearances with the group, West joined the San Francisco Ballet as conductor. He remains in that position as well and has been credited with raising the group's musical standards. West has made guest appearances with other leading ballet companies, including the New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet, and the National Ballet of Canada. He has often conducted Britain's Pimlico Opera, which stages operatic productions in prisons and involves inmates in the performance. West has also conducted symphonic music. He was the music director of the Cambridge Philharmonic Student Orchestra in Britain from 1998 to 2005 and has appeared with other orchestras ranging from the Hallé Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic to Symphony Silicon Valley. West and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra recorded the world premiere of Shinji Eshima's ballet Raku in 2012, and he has recorded several other ballets for Reference Recordings and others. He has also led the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra in several recordings of orchestral music, including a 2013 release featuring Georges Bizet's Symphony in C major, and a 2019 album, For the Love of You, that included pianist Lara Downes' performance of Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54.
© James Manheim /TiVo