William Boughton

Born into a musical family - his grandfather, Rutland Boughton, was a composer, his father a professional viola player, and his mother a singer. After studies at New England Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music, and Prague Academy as a cellist, he entered the profession in London playing with the Royal Philharmonic, BBC and London Sinfonietta Orchestras.  
The experience of playing in orchestras led to a passion to pursue a career in conducting, studying with George Hurst and then Sir Colin Davis. In 1980 he formed the English String Orchestra. With the ESO he built a significant discography of internationally acclaimed recordings with Nimbus Records - predominantly of English music, a number of which reached the Top Ten in the US Billboard charts.
In July 2007 he became the 10th Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (NHSO). With the NHSO he has received two ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and received critical acclaim for the Walton Project, with Gramophones Edward Greenfield nominating it for ‘Record of the Year’ (2010).
William Boughton became Director of the Yale Symphony in 2018. This is his final year as director of the orchestra.
He regularly records for both Nimbus and Lyrita Labels and guest conducts in the USA.