Iona Brown is the Artistic Director of two internationally renowned chamber orchestras. In addition to her many concerts and tours with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Miss Brown also directs the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.

Iona Brown was born in Salisbury into a highly musical family—her brothers and sister are all professional musicians. She studied in Rome, Brussels,Vienna and with Henryk Szeryng in Paris.

In 1974 Iona Brown was appointed Artistic Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. She has made a glittering series of records with the Academy, both as director and soloist.These include Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’, the complete Mozart Violin Concertos, Handel’s Concerti Grossi, the Beethoven Violin Concerto,Vaughan Williams ‘Lark Ascending’ and Mozart’s ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ with the viola player Josef Suk.

In addition to the recordings she has made with the Academy, Iona Brown has recorded David Blake’s Violin Concerto—a piece written for and dedicated to her. She has also recorded Bartok’s Violin Concerto No 2 with the Philharmonia and Simon Rattle.

In 1981 Iona Brown became Artistic Director of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Since that time she has made many successful tours with them in countries such as Germany, Holland, Spain, Norway, Sweden and the United States and has made numerous tours of the UK including performances at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall.

From 1987 to 1992 she was Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Under Iona Brown’s direction, they achieved tremendous success, most recently in their Hollywood Bowl debut, giving performances of the Brandenburg Concertos and the Four Seasons to enormous critical acclaim. Also in the USA, Iona Brown has directed concerts by the Detroit, San Francisco, St Louis and National Symphony Orchestras.

In the Queen’s 1986 New Year’s Honorous list Miss Brown was awarded an OBE for services to music. More recently she was honoured by the King of Norway with an award of Knight of the First Class of the Order of Merit, in recognition of her contribution to Norway’s musical life.