As a student he was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and went straight into the Hallé Orchestra for three years when he left college in 1979.
From there he went to the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (Council of Europe) for the following ten years. Other world premieres have included solo works by Stephen Dodgson and Martin Butler – Hunding (2004). The latter was again performed by Stephen Stirling in the very first moments of the grand opening of Kings Place in London in 2008.
Stephen Stirling has a world-wide reputation as a chamber musician and has performed in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia and the Americas.
He is co-principal horn of the Academy of Street Martin in the Fields and principal of the City of London Sinfonia. Having studied with Ifor James and later with Julian Baker, and citing Alexander Schneider, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sándor Végh as some of his own most formative influences, Stephen Stirling also greatly enjoys teaching and coaching and is on the faculty of the Yellow Barn Summer Festival in Vermont.
Gary Carpenter"s Concerto (nominated for a British Composer Award) was written for Stephen Stirling and the British Broadcasting Corporation Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann, and given its world and broadcast premiere in April 2005. He is a founder member of Endymion, the Fibonacci Sequence, and the New London Chamber Ensemble.
