Ed Gertler is a conductor based in London, and is currently Conductor of the South Norfolk Symphonic Band and the Cambridge Graduate Orchestra. He is also Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Wind Orchestra and the KCL Symphony Orchestra. He has just graduated with a BA (Hons) in Music from Cambridge University, where he was a Conducting Scholar studying part-time at the Royal Academy of Music with Sian Edwards. Ed was catapulted into the world of conducting after winning both of Cambridge University’s annual conducting competitions in his first year, and conducted the University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Orchestra. Since graduating Ed has conducted the opening concert of Trinity College Cambridge’s orchestral concert series 2025-26, and observed Aurora Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in rehearsal.

Ed is passionate about going beyond the orchestral canon, frequently conducting film scores, jazz and musical theatre together with classical – often conceiving imaginative concert programmes such as ‘Evolutions: Mozart, Mendelssohn and Mission Impossible’. He has enjoyed curating and conducting a ‘Gala Night’ for Wind Orchestra and guest singers (with bespoke arrangements including Anything Goes, Come Fly with Me, Cell Block Tango and The Man That Got Away); and a Film Music concert (ET, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean) for local primary school children in Cambridge.

No stranger to the big beasts of classical repertoire, however, Ed’s recent conducting engagements have included Holst’s The Planets, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Bizet’s Carmen Suites. In March 2025 Ed assistant conducted Philharmonia Orchestra in Ely Cathedral, on Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.

Outside of conducting, Ed is a ruthlessly efficient administrator and events organizer, currently working as a freelance Orchestral Manager and Music Librarian in London. Ed’s love of making things happen began when, aged 13, he created a student ensemble called The Pavingstone Ensemble, and arranged music from film, TV and video games for them to play in termly concerts