Natalia Luis-Bassa

BMus, PGDip, MMus

Undergraduate professor of Conducting

Natalia Luis-Bassa is a Professor of Conducting at the Royal College of Music. She is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Oxford University Orchestra and Musical Director of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate advocate for music education, Natalia works with many youth groups including the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Scotland, and the Benedetti Foundation. She has led workshops and built connections with youth orchestras and schools across the UK and internationally. Her outreach includes work with AMIS in Qatar, APAC in China and South Korea, and the Australian Youth Orchestra.

Natalia has conducted major university orchestras in the UK and USA and regularly runs workshops for young conductors. She has led various orchestras including Hallam Sinfonia, Haffner Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Falcón in Venezuela.

Trained in Venezuela’s El Sistema, she earned the country’s first orchestral conducting degree. She later studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where she was awarded the Michael Mudie Conducting Prize, the Ricordi Prize, and held the Junior Fellowship in Opera Conducting for two years.

She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Huddersfield and, in 2007, was named an Elgar Ambassador by the Elgar Society. A prize-winner at the Maazel-Vilar Conducting Competition, she further refined her craft through masterclasses with George Hurst, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Mark Elder, and enjoyed a close mentorship with Sir Colin Davis.

Faculties / departments: Conducting, Academic staff