ABOUT CAYENNA
Official Biography, March 2026
Alaska-born conductor, scholar and educator Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey is emblematic of the 21st century’s newest vanguard of orchestral leadership—her bold orchestral initiatives are pioneering in tackling the pressing issues of our time and have been featured in BBC Music Magazine, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and on BBC Radio 3. Based in the UK, she is Director of Performance at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Conducting Fellow of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Conducting Associate and Director of Research for the Oxford Conducting Institute and Academic Lead for OAcademy, a global music conservatory which democratises access to elite orchestral education.
She holds a doctorate in Music from the University of Oxford and has held prestigious research positions at the University of Oxford (2017-2021) and University of Sheffield (2021-2024). Her research is focused on the socio-psychological and socio-political aspects of orchestral music-making—from the intricacies of co-performer communication in modern and historically informed contexts, to the politics of participation and orchestras' geo-political significance. Her scholarship has been published by Oxford University Press, Music & Science, and Nineteenth-Century Music Review amongst others. As part of her advocacy for historic and contemporary female composers she has recently recorded the complete surviving keyboard concerti of 18th-century Viennese composer Marianna Martines with pianist Idith Korman and the Oxford Philharmonic to be released on the Signum label in April 2026.