People

Michael Bell MBE – Conductor

Michael Bell MBE, was born in Neath and studied music at Cardiff University. In 1982 Michael formed Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra and has conducted the orchestra for 43 years. Michael has conducted an enormous and wide-ranging repertoire with CPO, in over 350 concerts, including symphonies by Mahler, Strauss, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Shostakovich, as well as major orchestral works by Stravinsky, Ravel and Prokofiev and many more besides. Michael has always had a great enthusiasm for film music and in 1994 introduced “A Night at the Moves” as an annual feature of CPO’s repertoire.

Michael has conducted the Brecknock Sinfonia since 2010 in its concert series at Brecon Cathedral and was appointed Music Director of Abergavenny Symphony Orchestra in 2121. In 2019 Michael was invited to conduct the Hereford Symphony Orchestra. In 2018 Michael was appointed MBE in the New Year’s Honours and received the honour at an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

Pippa Cotterill – Leader

Pippa grew up in Birmingham in large, musical family, playing piano and violin. Through city music services and opportunities at school she played solos, quartets and orchestral concerts in Birmingham Town Hall and Symphony Hall as well as The Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall.
On moving to Cardiff she joined the university orchestra and alongside her career as a Speech and Language Therapist in the NHS has continued to play as much as possible. She plays with City of Cardiff Symphony Orchestra and Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra and further afield with Chandos Symphony Orchestra in Malvern. She regularly plays in Brecon, Swansea and further west in Wales, as well as with friends and family in Devon, Birmingham, Leicester and Trowbridge. Further afield, orchestral playing has taken her to the Lake District, Edinburgh, Norway and the South of France.