Winchester Chamber Orchestra

Kevin Withell

Kevin Withell joined WCO as Musical Director in September 2025. He enjoys a busy and varied conducting career in the south of England, as well as playing and teaching brass.

Kevin read music at University of Southampton, where he excelled in conducting and wrote a dissertation in Holocaust Music, before remaining to complete a Masters in orchestral conducting. During his studies at University of Southampton, Kevin was awarded the prestigious positions of assistant conductor of both Southampton University Symphony Orchestra and Southampton University Sinfonietta.

Kevin currently conducts Winchester Chamber Orchestra, Langtree Sinfonia, Southampton Youth Orchestra and Southampton University Concert Band, and has previously served as Musical Director of Southampton Youth Wind Band, Brass Band and Concert Sinfonia, and Southampton University String Orchestra. Kevin is Principal Guest Conductor of Charity Symphony Orchestra and has conducted Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Southampton Orchestra, London Gay Symphony Orchestra and Ealing Symphony Orchestra.

As a composer, Kevin produces numerous compositions and arrangements for the ensembles he directs, and has conducted the premieres of his own settings of the Requiem Mass (2011) and Gloria Mass (2013), the latter of which received further performances in 2015 and 2024.

Kevin continues to dedicate his spare time to researching the lives and works of musicians affected by Nazism and the holocaust, and has had articles published on the Music and the Holocaust website.