Benjamin Northey

Australian conductor Benjamin Northey is the Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor, Artistic Advisor – Learning and Engagement of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2025 he was also appointed Conductor in Residence of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Australian Conducting Academy. He has recently been appointed Professor of Conducting at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Northey studied conducting at Finland’s Sibelius Academy with Professors Leif Segerstam and Atso Almila after being accepted as the highest placed applicant in 2002. He completed his studies at the Stockholm Royal College of Music with Jorma Panula in 2006 before returning home to Australia where he has become one of the most sought after conductors in the Asia-Pacific region.

He previously studied conducting with John Hopkins OBE at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music from graduating with a Masters degreee in 2002. In 2001 he was awarded multiple prizes, including first prize, in the Symphony Australia Young Conductor of the Year Competition under the direction of Jorma Panula.

In 2009/10 he was invited as one of three conductors worldwide to participate in the Allianz International Conductor’s Academy with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra where he was mentored by Vladimir Jurowsky and Christof von Dohnányi.

Northey appears regularly as a guest conductor with all major Australian symphony orchestras, Opera Australia (La Bohème, Turandot, L’elisir d’amore, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Carmen), New Zealand Opera (Sweeney Todd) and the State Opera South Australia (La Sonnambula, L’elisir d’amore, Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Victorian Opera (Candide, Into the Woods).

His international appearances include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Malaysian Philharmonic & the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Highly regarded for the range of his work Northey has collaborated with major artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Anne Sofie von Otter, Pinchas Zukerman, Steven Isserlis, Stefan Dohr & Wynton Marsalis. He has also collaborated with great artists in a diverse range of genres including Ben Folds, Tim Minchin, Professor Brian Cox, Barry Humphries, Meow Meow, Lalah Hathaway, William Barton, Paul Grabowsky, Kurt Elling, Anoushka Shankar, KD Lang, Deborah Cheetham-Fraillon, Tori Amos, & James Morrison.

An Aria Awards, Air Music Awards, and APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards winner, Northey is highly active in the performance and recording of new Australian and New Zealand orchestral music having premiered dozens of major new works by contemporary composers.  He has previously been a board member of the Australian Music Centre.

Northey has also been active in music education and training through concerts and workshops for the Melbourne, West Australian and Sydney Youth Orchestras, the Australian National Academy of Music, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music & Monash University.

An Aria Award, APRA/AMC Art Music Award and Green Room Award winner, Northey’s many prizes include the 2001 Symphony Australia Young Conductor of the Year, the prestigious 2010 Melbourne Prize Outstanding Musician’s Award and the 2002 Brian Stacey Memorial Scholarship.  In 2018 he was voted Limelight Magazine’s Australian Artist of the Year.

His numerous recordings can be found on ABC Classics.