Biography
Robert Ames is a conductor and composer. A regular presence at the BBC Proms, he has worked with orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé and Seattle Symphony. He is recognised for bringing contemporary music, large-scale collaboration and ambitious live work into the orchestral mainstream. His work is marked by precision, intensity and a distinctive ear for texture, atmosphere and dramatic shape.
Ames co-founded London Contemporary Orchestra in 2008 and, over nearly two decades, helped build the Royal Philharmonic Society Award-winning ensemble into one of the most distinctive orchestral platforms of its generation. Ames has developed an approach to music-making that combines contemporary repertoire, new work and orchestral performance with collaboration across artistic and cultural boundaries. He has worked personally with composers including Philip Glass, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Mica Levi, Jonny Greenwood, John Luther Adams, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Bryce Dessner, conducting and premiering their music. He has also helped expand the possibilities of orchestral performance through projects spanning concert music, film, theatre, fashion and popular music, collaborating with artists including Radiohead, Anoushka Shankar, Little Simz, The National, Taylor Swift, Frank Ocean, Sigur Rós and The Weeknd.
Alongside his conducting work, Ames has built a parallel career as a composer. His releases include Change Ringing and CARBS, released on BMG, and his work in film has included arranging and conducting on Volker Bertelmann’s Oscar-winning score for All Quiet on the Western Front and the Oscar-nominated scores for Conclave and Jonny Greenwood’s Phantom Thread. He wrote the score for Hailey Gates’s Atropia, which won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.
Recent Conducting engagements include performances at The Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, Manchester International Festival, De Doelen, The Brooklyn Academy Of Arts, Philharmonie De Paris, Elbphilharmonie, The Concertgebouw and The Sydney Opera House, BBC Proms and Holland Festival.
Robert has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, L’Orchestre National De Lyon, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Metropole Orkest, RTE Concert Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Moscow New Music Ensemble and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra.