Stephen Maddock to step down as CBSO CEO

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) has today announced that chief executive Stephen Maddock will step down at the end of April 2023. Maddock, who has held the role for 23 years, will take up the role of principal at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

The search for Maddock’s successor has now begun. David Burbidge CBE will defer his retirement from the role of chair of the Board of Trustees for a year in order to ensure a smooth transition. The new chief executive will oversee the orchestra’s administration, rehearsals and activities, as well as its four choruses, youth orchestra, and education programme.

Burbidge said: ‘We have an enormous debt to Stephen for his outstanding leadership of the CBSO over many years and we are sorry to lose him. During his time at the CBSO, the orchestra has enhanced its position as being among the very best in the world. The orchestra are at the top of their game and are great ambassadors for our city and country.’

Maddock worked as planning assistant, then administrator, for the BBC Proms before joining the CBSO in 1999. During his time at the helm the orchestra has performed in each Proms season and has given more than 160 premieres. Maddock has also overseen 77 tours to 34 countries in four continents, as well as a televised performance at the opening ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which reached 1 billion viewers.

Following last week’s announcement from Arts Council England, CBSO will remain a National Portfolio Organisation for the 2023-26 period. The orchestra’s current principal guest conductor, Kazuki Yamada, will take up the role of chief conductor and artistic advisor in April 2023.

Maddock currently serves as a board member of the ABO, Marketing Birmingham, Warwick Arts Centre and Birmingham Arts Marketing as well as holding the role of director for Culture Central, the collective voice of the cultural sector in the West Midlands. He was awarded an OBE in 2017 for his services to music, particularly in this area.

Maddock said: ‘I am very proud of everything that the CBSO family has achieved during [the last two decades] and will watch with interest as they continue to develop and inspire people with great music in the coming years. I am hugely excited by my new role at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – like the CBSO, this is an outstanding Birmingham institution with a global reach, and like CBSO it has superb facilities in which to create and listen to music.’