Marshall Marcus has had an eclectic career in music for almost 40 years, having performed in more than 60 countries with musicians as varied as Lang Lang, Sir Simon Rattle, the Moscow Soloists, Cecilia Bartoli and Baaba Maal.

Whether forming an orchestra within Venezuela’s El Sistema, overseeing one of the world’s largest arts centre music programmes at London’s Southbank Centre, or founding organisations such as Sistema Africa or the SERA Archive, he has always worked with passion and determination to spread the enjoyment of music making to as many people as possible. He is currently CEO of the European Union Youth Orchestra, as well as Chair of Sistema Europe, Trustee of Sistema England, Honorary Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a member of Sistema Globals’ Advisory Board and the British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group, Vice Patron of the Kampala Music School appeal, advisor to the London Music Masters programme and the National Orchestra For All, and a guest director with the Orquesta Barocca Simón Bolívar de Venezuela.
 
A philosophy and experimental psychology graduate of Oxford University and an education postgraduate at Cambridge University, Marcus has appeared regularly on BBC radio and TV during the last two decades, and has written for a number of publications including the UK Guardian and the website Chameleonworld. During 2013 he has speaking engagements in Austria, Belgium, the UK, USA, Sweden and Switzerland and travels with the European Union Youth Orchestra to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. His blog (http://marshallmarcus.wordpress.com) currently focuses mainly on El Sistema comment, and has been accessed by people in more than 95 countries.