2024 comes to a close on a high note for our Fellowship scheme, with Sasha Scolnik-Brower moving up to our main roster and Sam Weller joining as an Askonas Holt Conducting Fellow.

Sasha was recently named the inaugural Bernard Haitink Conducting Fellow with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. His activities with the BRSO began last month when he assisted Sir Simon Rattle in St Matthew Passion following the orchestra’s summer festival tour. Over the course of the next two seasons, Sasha will continue to assist Sir Simon as well as a number of guest conductors, in addition to accompanying the BRSO on tour in Asia and conducting concerts himself. Elsewhere, Sasha recently made debuts with the Staatsoper Hamburg, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and Residentie Orkest in collaboration with the Dutch National Opera Academy. Coming up, he makes his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

New Askonas Holt Fellow Sam Weller was recently announced as one of six designated winners of the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, which will see him conduct the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Klangforum Wien and Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. In the new year, Sam debuts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and TivoliVredenberg, as well as with PhilZuid for their Christmas gala and the Noord Nederlands Orkest conducting Swan Lake. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of Ensemble Apex, which this year launched the Apex Festival with support from the Australian Government. Limelight magazine singled out Sam’s performance, saying, “Weller’s passion as a conductor is so much fun to watch. All emotion on display in his gestures. He makes it easy to trace the way in which maestro and orchestra feed off the other’s energy.”

Sam joins current Fellows Luis Castillo-Briceño, Polina Lebedieva, Jakub Przybycień, Julie Røssland, Miguel Sepulveda and John Warner on the scheme. The Conducting Fellowship provides bespoke mentorship from experienced managers, in addition to a regular programme of workshops and one-to-ones with senior conductors and leading industry professionals on topics such as marketing and programming.