Rob Young

Rob was born in Plymouth and has lived in south Devon for most of his life. His musical training was at Goldsmiths College, London. He has had the privilege of working as MD or Assistant MD for many theatre companies in Devon including TOPS & TOADS (Torquay), Plymouth Theatre Company and EMS (Exeter). In 2004 Rob became Chorus Musical Director for Plymouth’s community musical event ‘Music of The Night’ (up to 2012). Through this connection, Rob became the MD for the ‘Plymouth Military Wives Choir’ in Dec ’11 and has conducted the choir in many different ventures including: albums, TV appearances and their debut concert at Carnegie Hall, New York in May ’16. 

He became Musical Director for NAO in 2006 and also enjoys writing music when time permits. The orchestra performs a wide variety of music, specialising in lighter classical repertoire, and has joined forces with TOPS in their concert version of ‘Showboat’ and their collaboration ‘A Night In Vienna’ at Central Church in 2017. The orchestra has also collaborated with Plymouth Military Wives Choir for remembrance and their own concert at The Guildhall, Plymouth. 

In recent years Rob has joined the coaching team at the Richard Dale Theatre School in Exeter and has worked on the school's productions for the Northcott Theatre, The Phoenix, and Sadler's Wells in London.

In 2023, PGS 100th Anniversary concert Sunday Night at the Lyric was Rob's first full-scale production with the Plymouth G&S Fellowship and his debut at the Theatre Royal. He conducted their production of Titanic back in May and is delighted to be involved with their October 2025 production of Chess the Musical (Semi-Staged) at the Hall for Cornwall and Plymouth's Guildhall.

He has recently been working with the Unleashed Theatre Company and in 2024 conducted their production of the full-scale musical A Christmas Carol at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Torquay.