Marco A. Zambonini - President
BEd Mus (Hons), MPhil (Cantab), FRSA
Founder of the Arabian Youth Orchestra, Marco is originally from Scotland, he has been involved in music from an early age, playing bass trombone with the National Wind Band of Scotland and the award-winning Motherwell District Concert Band. Marco studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama where he gained an Honours Degree in Music with Education. During his time at the RSAMD he was delighted to receive the prestigious Euing Prize for History of Music & Analysis.
Marco is an experienced educator, having taught and managed Music Departments in Kuwait, Chicago and the U.A.E. Previously, as the founding Head of Music with the British School of Chicago, he had led his department within two years to produce the only band programme in the British Schools of America family.
For eleven years, Marco was Head of Music at Dubai College, the region’s premier British curriculum school. Under his direction, the College established itself as a regional leader in music education. Its commitment to musical excellence seen Dubai College become the most decorated school at the Young Musician of the Gulf Competition, and a centre for music-making within the Emirate. In this role, Marco was also the Musical Director of productions of Hairspray, Evita, and West Side Story.t
Marco has led a number of cross-school initiatives, including a workshop and performance with the Desford Colliery Band, as well as conducting a 'massed-band' performance with the Band of HM Royal Marines and HM Band of the 6 Rifles. He has also worked as a conductor at the BSME Music Festival and a brass coach at the annual Brass Bonanza. In addition, Marco has been invited to act as an adjudicator at Repton School Dubai, and at the Music Festival of St. Christopher’s School, Bahrain.
Marco has been instrumental in organising and hosting visits from ensembles and soloists, including The Schubert Ensemble, The Princeton Tigertones, The Dimension Trio, Sarah Williamson, Tasmin Little, Lisa Milne, James Baillieu and Peter Seivewright.
Marco continues to be an active performer and has performed with a range of ensembles including Kuwait Brass Ensemble, the Manama Singers, Dubai Sinfonia, the Dubai Singers. the U.A.E. National Symphony Orchestra and the Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra. This year he has completed a master's degree in Educational Leadership and School Improvement at The University of Cambridge. In April 2017, he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, in recognition of his work with the Arabian Youth Orchestra.