A Grammy award-winning British conductor who has worked with acts including Stormzy and the Arctic Monkeys has been given a top role at the prestigious BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Jules Buckley has been appointed creative artist in association for the next three years and joins a conducting team fronted by chief conductor Sakari Oramo.
Buckley is known for incorporating pop music into his projects and counts Basement Jaxx, Massive Attack and Dizzee Rascal among his past collaborators.
A 2015 partnership with BBC Radio 1Xtra saw Buckley and his Metropole Orkest work alongside grime artists including Glastonbury headliner Stormzy and Wretch 32 to create a celebration of urban music.
He also scored a No 1 album at the end of 2016 with Classic House alongside Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra.
Buckley first worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2012 on an Urban Classic concert at the Barbican Hall, a celebration of pop culture in an orchestral context.
He has performed regularly at the BBC Proms, presenting the Ibiza Prom, the Quincy Jones Proms and the Songs of Scott Walker. Last week he conducted a prom dedicated to the music of Nina Simone.
Buckley’s first performance as creative artist in association will see him conduct British singer Lianne La Havas at the Barbican on 28 February.
Buckley said: “It’s a huge honour for me to join the prestigious BBC Symphony Orchestra, having worked with them for Urban Classic, it feels amazing to come full circle and take on the role of creative artist in association, I hope to continue to innovate and challenge the stereotypes of what orchestral music should be.”
Paul Hughes, director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, said Buckley’s ability to bring together the worlds of pop and classical music “produced something so thrilling and distinctive that we knew this was a very special relationship.
“Jules has the respect and affection of the BBCSO and the wider BBC, and I am tremendously excited to see the new directions he will take the orchestra in and the new audiences we will meet.”
