James Loughran

James Loughran (born 30 June 1931, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish conductor.

Loughran is best known for his appearances at the Last Night of the Proms. A task normally carried out by the BBC Symphony Orchestra's principal conductor, Loughran was chosen as the BBC SO had several non-British conductors as chief conductor, and the Last Night was seen as a British conductor's task. At the time, he was chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO), a position he had held for several years in the 1960s.

Loughran became principal conductor of The Hallé as of the 1971-1972 season. [cite journal | url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4666(197203)113%3A1549%3C286%3AR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M | last=Kennedy | first=Michael | title=Reports: Manchester | journal=The Musical Times | volume=113 | issue=1549 | pages=286-287 | month=March | year=1972 | accessdate=2008-04-20] He has held the same title with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. He was chief conductor of the Aarhus Symfoniorkester (Denmark) from 1996 to 2003. In addition, he has conducted all the major UK orchestras.

His recordings include a complete cycle of the Johannes Brahms symphonies with the Hallé on the Classics for Pleasure label. Loughran also made the very first commercial recording of Havergal Brian’s music in 1972. This recording contained Brian's Symphonies Nos. 10 and 21, conducted by Loughran and Eric Pinkett respectively, which the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra recorded at the De Monfort Hall, Leicester. The producer was Robert Simpson and the LP was released by Unicorn Records to great critical acclaim in 1973. A special edition of the television programme "Aquarius" called "The Unknown Warrior" gave considerable coverage to the recording session.

References

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/onthisday/onthisday.shtml?month=06&day=30 Short biography]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/musicscotland/bbcsso/gallery/69_years_sso.shtml?page=5 Picture of Loughran with the BBC SSO from 1965]