In 2018 we appointed Helen Thomas as conductor of Chester Sinfonia.

Helen began conducting in Autumn 2017 after attending the Royal Philharmonic Society Women Conductors programme where she received coaching and encouragement from Alice Farnham. She also attended the Practical Conducting Course at Sherborne Summer School and received tuition from Rudolfo Saglimbeni and John Longstaff and has completed the Royal Northern College of Music Conducting Course for Music Educators led by Mark Heron (during which she was able to rehearse the Halle Youth Orchestra)

Helen enjoys introducing little known repertoire to orchestras as well as conducting Classical favourites and has conducted concerts in venues ranging from an informal performance in the John Lewis store in Chester to the more formal setting of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

She has a PhD in Music and has worked at the Universities of Liverpool Hope, Lancaster, Newcastle and Liverpool and is a keen oboe, oboe d'amore and cor anglais player, playing with Orchestra dell'arte, Wirral Symphony Orchestra and the Liverpool Bach Collective.

In addition to conducting the Sinfonia, Helen has also recently begun conducting Hope Metropolitan Orchestra and in 2022 was appointed a Trustee of Mahogany Opera Group.