George is a musical director based in Manchester, graduating with a masters in performance from the Royal Northern College of Music and a BA in music from the University of Leeds. He enjoys a varied career as an MD, vocal coach, session musician and orchestrator/arranger.

 

George has performed around the country at venues including the London Palladium, Cadogan Hall, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Bridgewater Hall, as well as theatres. He has also featured on CBBC with the West End Musical Choir.

 

His work in musical theatre spans commercial, fringe/independent, revue and cabaret, as well as championing brand new writing. He has been on the music team for new musicals including The Book Thief (Bolton Octagon/UK Tour) and George Takei’s Allegiance (Charing Cross), as well as the original MD/supervisor on several new works including “Steep Themselves in Night”, “Make Me Infamous” and Music Supervisor for “Is He Musical” (by Jude Taylor), “Subway” (by Gus Gowland), and “Bird Brigade" (by Lara De Belder and Luka Bjelis). His Bette Midler Revue “Bette: From Bathhouse to Broadway” (co-written with Jonathan Booth) has been performed at Brighton and Greater Manchester Fringes.

 

Alongside this, George is in regular demand as a session player and deputy, covering on productions including “The Color Purple” (UK Tour) “Midnight Train to Georgia - The Gladys Knight Story” (took over as MD in 2023), “Something About George Harrison” and “La Voix - The Eighth Wonder of the World”.

 

He also works as an orchestrator and arranger and has had his work performed around the UK. George’s previous work includes Co-orchestrating Lucie Jones At Christmas (Her Majesty’s Theatre, London/St David’s Hall, Cardiff), Jason Manford's Christmas Charity Concert (Bridgewater Hall, Manchester) and An Evening with Rob King (The Lowry, Salford). He has also worked on orchestrations, vocal arrangements and tracks for the UK Tour of “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (Red Entertainment), and provided additional orchestrations for the World Premier of “The Book Thief” at Bolton Octagon.

 

George is a freelance vocal/repertoire coach and has worked with the RNCM Young Company, StageBox, Phil Winston’s Theatreworks, The Northern Ballet School and Mountview. He has also been a visiting MD, rehearsal pianist and repertoire/vocal coach at The Arden, LIPA, Liverpool Theatre School and other performing arts colleges in the North of England.

 

Current/Upcoming Projects: Tarantino Live (Associate MD, Riverside Studios); Into The Woods (MD, RNCM); The Book Thief (Associate MD/Additional Orchestrations, UK Tour).

 

Recent credits: Allegiance (Assistant MD: Charing Cross Theatre), Annie Get Your Gun (Assistant MD: The London Palladium); Crossroads Pantomimes (London Area Cover MD); The Spitfire Grill (MD: Liverpool Theatre School), Soul Sisters (MD: UK Tour), Good Fun (MD: Kings Head Theatre), The Regulars in Concert (MD: Hope Mill), Lucie Jones at Christmas (Orchestrator: Lambert Jackson).

 

For more information on George’s work please find him on Facebook (George Strickland Music), Twitter and Instagram (gstrickland91).