Anthony Weeden is an award-winning conductor and orchestrator whose versatility, vast repertoire, and reputation as a trusted musical collaborator have made him a first choice for leading composers and ensembles worldwide. His work features on scores that have earned Golden Globe, Academy Award, and BAFTA wins and nominations.
Equally at home on the concert stage and in the recording studio, Anthony has collaborated with a remarkable cross-section of creators, including Jóhann Jóhannsson, Michael Giacchino, Christophe Beck, Bear McCreary, David Byrne, Junkie XL, David Arnold, David Buckley, Peter Gregson, Oli Julian, Mica Levi, Anna Calvi, Amelia Warner, and Nainita Desai.
He appears regularly with leading orchestras internationally—including the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and Heritage Orchestra—and with all the major UK orchestras, among them the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recent screen credits include The Sandman (Netflix, 2022–25), Young Woman and the Sea (Disney, 2024), The Family Plan (Apple Original, 2023), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Marvel, 2023), The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon, 2022), and Thor: Love and Thunder (Marvel, 2022). Earlier acclaimed projects include Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), The Theory of Everything (2014), and Sherlock (BBC, 2010–17).
Born on England’s north-east coast, Anthony began his musical life in local brass bands before studying trumpet and composition at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Academy. He read Music at Durham University (BA Hons) and completed postgraduate studies in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music, working with Lorin Maazel and Daniele Gatti. He twice won the August Manns Prize and, in 1999, became the inaugural winner of the Norman Del Mar Conducting Prize. The Royal Academy of Music appointed him an Honorary Associate in 2014.
Anthony’s versatility as a conductor has taken him across the world to many different orchestras, where he has helped create new audiences, strengthen connections with communities, and form lasting relationships with solo artists, frequently returning as a guest conductor. Here are some recent highlights:
Working together for the first time since winning a Golden Globe for the Best Original Score for The Theory of Everything, in February 2015 Anthony conducted Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score to Sicario (a Lionsgate film starring Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin directed by Denis Villeneuve), recording at East Connection Studios in Budapest with the Budapest Art Orchestra. Sicario was been officially selected for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and is currently playing in cinemas worldwide.
December 2014 saw Anthony return to conduct the Heritage Orchestra in a concert with Mercury Prize nominated singer and guitarist Anna Calvi. The concert, held in St John at Hackney Church, London, was sold out and received a rave 5 star review from The Times. Anthony and the Heritage Orchestra orchestra have worked together on many projects previously, including an extraordinary performance with Antony & the Johnsons at the Givenchy 2014 Autumn/Winter Womenswear fashion show in Paris.
In August 2014, Anthony created and presented a programme for a huge collaborative project with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, jazz singer Barb Jungr, folk band Head of Snakes and a community choir from Corby, Northamptonshire. Anthony conducted the performance with repertoire ranging from Mendelssohn, Mussorgsky and Mosolov to brand new folk rock songs written by Barb Jungr and members of her band, orchestrated by Anthony.
Following several projects with the Grammy award winning Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands over the last few years, Anthony’s relationship with the orchestra continues to evolve in 2015 with an action-packed film music project. Programme to be announced.
Anthony has been involved in the bringing together of an exciting new chamber orchestra - Cantia Quorum - now orchestra-in-residence at the University of Kent. He conducted the orchestra’s debut performance in the historic city of Canterbury with Stravinsky’s The Soldier's Tale and Walton’s Façade, in November 2014.
A spectacular performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite in December 2014 was conducted by Anthony to a capacity audience at the Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music with the Junior Academy Sinfonia, followed by a highly praised performance of Debussy’s Nocturnes and excerpts from Wagner’s Lohengrin in March 2015. This summer they will be performing together Mahler’s Totenfeier (an early version of the 1st movement from Symphony no. 2).
An incredibly successful performance in November 2013 with Anthony’s longtime collaborator jazz musician Django Bates and the South Denmark Philharmonic, Anthony’s debut with the Danish orchestra which included several world premieres, has been followed up with a return invitation to work with the orchestra; this time for an innovative project with one of London’s most prolific Drum n Bass Dj's, DJ Scanner, in a fascinating re-working of Nielson’s 6th Symphony.
Anthony toured with Antony & the Johnsons in 2012 conducting orchestras across the world from Moscow to Melbourne via many of Europe’s finest music festivals and venues.
Download Anthony's current repertoire list.
As a busy orchestrator for the film & TV industry as well as for composers of concert music, Anthony works particularly closely with composers Jóhann Jóhannsson (Theory of Everything), Tarik O'Regan, Michael Price & David Arnold (Sherlock), Rael Jones (Suite Francaise), Peter Gregson (A little Chaos) and Gabriel Prokofiev. Here are some recent highlights:
In January 2015, the music for the widely acclaimed film Theory of Everything (starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones), orchestrated and conducted by Anthony and recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score and nominations for an Oscar and BAFTA in the same category. This score was the product of a first time collaboration with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Anthony has now arranged a piano book of music from the film, published by Hal Leonard, to be released shortly. In February 2015 Anthony also orchestrated and conducted Jóhann Jóhannsson’s score to Sicario (a Lionsgate film starring Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin directed by Denis Villeneuve), recording at East Connection Studios in Budapest with the Budapest Art Orchestra. Sicario was officially selected for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and is now in cinemas across the world.
Released in 2014, Suite Française, a Weinstein company / BBC Films feature starring Michelle Williams, Kristen Scott Thomas and Sam Riley, directed by Saul Dibb. Based on the novels by Iréne Némirovsky, the story is set in France during the German occupation. Anthony orchestrated and conducted this wonderfully evocative and romantic score by Rael Jones.
Future orchestration projects include Anthony’s continual work on the Emmy award winning music for BBC TV series Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman), orchestrating Michael Price and David Arnold’s score, with a Christmas special episode due in 2015 and series 4 later. The Sherlock Suite for Orchestra, arranged and orchestrated by Anthony, has now received many performances; at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Festival Hall, London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with The London Philharmonic Orchestra, and as far afield as Singapore, with many more performances promised in the near future, including a BBC recording and broadcast. Later in 2015, Anthony will also be working on a brand new 10-part series for ITV. Visit Anthony’s page on IMDB.com for more details of his work in film and TV including Doctor Who, Another Me (Sophie Turner), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Sean Connery), The Inbetweeners 2, Wild Target (Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint), Horrid Henry (Richard E. Grant, Angelica Houston), Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills' directorial debut A Fantastic Fear of Everything (Simon Pegg) and ITV's Lightfields.
Anthony also regularly works with composers outside of the film industry, orchestrating and often expanding their works for the concert hall. In 2012 he orchestrated an orchestral suite from Tarik O’Regan's opera Heart of Darkness, which has recently been performed by both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Samuel West as narrator) and BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Simon Callow as narrator), and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Following this success, Tarik engaged Anthony to orchestrate an showpiece for amplified oud and orchestra Corsair, premiered by the Holland Symfonia at the 2014 Souk festival in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
