Conductor and choral scholar Stephen Layton once said that he often wondered what happened to the little boy at his primary school who he thought sang better than he did. The discovering and nurturing of raw talent is an issue very close to his heart and he offers three heartfelt cheers for the work of TV's Gareth Malone in that regard. Stephen was one of the lucky ones - he won a series of scholarships which defined his future and took him from Winchester Cathedral via Eton to King's College Cambridge.

He is currently Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge and newly appointed as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the City of London Sinfonia where he succeeds the late lamented Richard Hickox. His ambitions for the orchestra - which has a special relationship with the human voice and in particular Stephen's well-established choirs Polyphony and the Holst Singers - are nothing if not challenging with particular emphasis on his personal crusade to bring the music of the Baltic States into greater circulation. Stephen shares the details of his inaugural concert at the helm of the City of London Sinfonia (at Cadogan Hall on 30 October), which is not so much a concert, more a manifesto.

Listen to this episode

• Find out more about Stephen Layton
• Find out more about the City of London Sinfonia
• Book tickets for the City of London Sinfonia's Cadogan Hall concert