Northern Silents Sinfonia

Northern Silents Sinfonia and its conductor, Helen Harrison

Northern Silents Sinfonia, conducted by Helen Harrison, made its debut playing Charlie Chaplin’s own score to his 1921 feature, The Kid at the first Silents by the Sea festival in June 2024.

This sixteen-strong orchestra is made up of professional players from Yorkshire and the North West, and features past and present members of the Hallé, Manchester Camerata, Manchester Collective, Orchestra of Opera North, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic. The leader, Sarah Brandwood Spencer, is former Principle Violin of the Hallé.

British conductor Helen Harrison is the Music Director for the Young Sinfonia, the Royal Northern Sinfonia’s Youth Orchestra. Recent guest conducting includes the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva and Southbank Sinfonia.  Helen is equally at home in the opera pit and joins Longborough Festival Opera this summer as Assistant Conductor for their new production of ‘La Boheme’.  She conducts for Northern Opera Group, Hull Urban Opera and Outreach Opera.

Born, raised and living in Lancashire, Helen is passionate about bringing the transformative power of music to her own community and is the Music Director for Preston Opera and the award winning Blackpool Symphony Orchestra.

Recognised as one of the leading conductors in the country for her work with young people, Helen relishes training the next generation of musicians conducting the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, Trinity Laban Summer School Orchestra and Leeds Conservatoire.

Comprehensively educated in Blackburn, Helen read Music at Cambridge University and studied Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music.  She was a 2022/2023 participant on the flagship programme for Women Conductors run by the Royal Philharmonic and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.  She has taken part in international Masterclasses run by the Royal Opera House, the Royal Philharmonic Society, the National Opera Studio and the Royal Northern College of Music.