Manchester Camerata appoints Samantha McShane as creative director

British chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata has announced the appointment of Samantha McShane, to the role of creative director. McShane will succeed James Thomas who is leaving the orchestra to join Sage Gateshead as director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia & Classical Programme.

Effective from November 2022, McShane’s new role will see her return to Manchester Camerata, having previously spent four years at as head of creative programming at the orchestra. McShane left Manchester Camerata in 2017 to join the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as head of artistic planning.

Manchester Camerata chief executive, Bob Riley, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Sam back to the team, where her progressive, original and broad-thinking ideas about how orchestras can make change, will be relished. Her experience as a musician, programmer, and recently in higher education gives her an unusual and powerful perspective which we hope will provoke and challenge us in our 50th year and beyond.’

McShane graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) degree and Postgraduate Diploma in French Horn from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2010 and spent time performing as a freelance musician with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as well as co-founding and directing the Pure Brass quintet.

She also performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), where she worked as both assistant orchestra manager and planning manager. During her time with the RSNO, McShane graduated from the League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Leadership Academy in New York.

McShane said: ‘The world that we live in requires the arts to be relevant, to connect to its communities and to help make change, and I believe that Manchester Camerata with its wonderful orchestral musicians, artistic partners - including the inspirational Gábor Takács-Nagy - and the award-winning community team can be a key part of this change.’