Ammal Bhatia is a conductor and was awarded the Leverhulme Scholarship to study a Masters in Conducting with Martyn Brabbins at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). Additionally, he has partaken in masterclasses with Jac van Steen and Stuart Stratford. Ammal has been personally mentored by Adam Szabo, former Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Manchester Collective, and now Director of the BBC Philharmonic. He was the Conductor in Residence (CiR) of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) for the 24/25 season. In his role as CiR of the LSSO, he conducted the orchestra for a variety of different projects including their summer tour, and for the Carnegie Hall link up project. Ammal has conducted the Ulster Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, and looks forward to making debuts in the 25/26 season with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Opera and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Passionate about contemporary music, Ammal has worked with the London Sinfonietta, the Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (for a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast). He has given multiple premieres including a radio broadcast of Ben Nobuto’s interbeing on BBC Radio 3, and Reena Esmail’s Ram Tori Maya. He looks forward to working with the Hebrides Ensemble this season.
Ammal is a recent graduate from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), where he trained as a violinist with Steve Wilkie.Ammal has played with Chineke! Orchestra (most recently in their European tours, at their BBC Prom), and projects with Manchester Collective and the Hallé. Ammal is also Co-Founding Director of the Enys Chamber Music Festival and manages the day-to-day running of the Festival with fellow Director Stefan Rogers. The Festival aims to bring high quality accessible chamber music, performed by young professional musicians, to Falmouth and Penryn.