KATHRYN MCDOWELL CBE

CLASS OF 1978

Managing Director, London Symphony Orchestra

My school life at Belfast High School gave me a perfect foundation for the future – largely through the extra-curricular opportunities it afforded during the 1970s, when other aspects of life in Northern Ireland were rather curtailed by The Troubles. Music and sport were highly valued in school life, and I’m delighted to see this continues to be the case. I was fortunate in being part of the first generation of pupils to play squash, alongside hockey, tennis and athletics, all of which developed team-building skills and a tenacity that has served me well in my professional life. There was also a thriving tradition of musical theatre, with an annual school show and many opportunities to sing in large and small groups, all of which provided great opportunities to gain confidence in performing with others.

BHS also offered me a solid education that gave me the wherewithal to achieve a place at Edinburgh University, and a basic understanding of how to study, whilst still leaving time and space for the other pursuits that provided the wider skills that I have drawn on in subsequent years. It also fostered a desire to travel and to explore other cultures, which was not something I could do during my school days, but became a major part of my life from university onwards – not least when I worked as a volunteer for the YMCA in a United Nations refugee camp near Vienna, in the days when the Iron Curtain swept through central Europe.

On my return from Austria, I was fortunate to discover the burgeoning area of arts education within the professional companies, and subsequently worked for Welsh National Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra before taking responsibility for national music policy at the Arts Council of England in the 1990s. After leading the bid for the new Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and running a festival, I became Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2005 – a position that has drawn upon so many areas of my interest and expertise for the last 17 years and, in the wake of the pandemic and Brexit, continues to stimulate and challenge me. So many of the skills and attributes I need for this job, I can trace back to the foundations laid during my school days at Belfast High School and in my local community of Carrickfergus.