Oliver Cope (b.1999) is the recent First Prize winner at both the Koussevitzky International Conducting Competition and the International Athens Conducting Competition. He studied Music at the University of Cambridge, and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards and at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Martyn Brabbins.  He has conducted orchestras across Europe including the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and Scottish Opera. Further competition successes include reaching the finals of the Bournemouth Symphony’s ‘Calleva’ Competition and the Mitropoulos Competition. This season, he has been selected as one of the 8 Semi Finalists out of 280+ applicants for the Halle-Siemens Conductor Competition and for the 8th Gustav Mahler Competition.

In opera, Cope conducted Eugene Onegin with HGO, praised by The Spectator as “the sort of night that made you want to drag in an opera sceptic…”. He returns in 2026 for The Rape of Lucretia and continues on the music staff at Grange Park, assisting the world premiere of  Krishna in 2026. He will also conduct four performances as Musical Director for British Youth Opera’s 2026 production of The Rake’s Progress at Battersea Arts Centre.