Iona Brown

Iona Brown earned recognition chiefly through her activities as both violinist and conductor within chamber-orchestra settings. Raised in a family deeply devoted to music, she was urged to develop her skills at an early age. She entered the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 1955 and remained a member for five years. Further training took her to the Continent, where her instructors included Hugh Maguire in London, Remy Principe in Rome, and Henryk Szeryng in Paris and Nice; she also pursued musical studies in Vienna and Brussels.

While performing with the Philharmonia Orchestra between 1963 and 1966, she joined the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields as a violinist in 1964 and soon developed a strong interest in conducting. Her debut in that capacity occurred at a Proms concert in 1965, after which she appeared regularly with the Academy. When Marriner reduced his commitments in 1974, he appointed Brown artistic director. Thereafter she conducted the ensemble frequently in concert and on numerous recordings released primarily by the Philips label. In 1981 she became artistic and music director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, guiding it to a leading position among international chamber ensembles. She received an additional appointment in 1987 as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Her podium engagements extended to many prominent symphony orchestras, among them the Saint Louis Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, for which she served as guest director from 1985 to 1989. In 1996 she was named chief conductor of the Danish Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a violinist she recorded Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto and the violin concerto by David Blake, the latter written expressly for her. She received the Order of the British Empire in 1986 and the Knight of First Class Order of Merit of Norway in 1991.