John Farrer is now in his thirty-fifth season as the music director of the Bakersfield Symphony. He is also music director of the Roswell Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Maria Philharmonic. Mr. Farrer is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras in England. As senior guest conductor of the English Sinfonia, he has toured with the orchestra throughout England and northern France. His nine recordings with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, English Sinfonia, and the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra have received high praise from critics around the world.

In March 2006 Maestro Farrer served as Music Mentor of Singapore.  In this capacity, he conducted several orchestras including a concert of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra.  This program was attended by S. R. Nathan, president of Singapore.  In May, 2006, Maestro Farrer conducted the New Queens Hall Orchestra of London in a special program benefiting the National Osteoporosis Society of Britain.  This concert was attended by the orchestra’s patron, the Duchess of Cornwall.

Mr. Farrer was associated with the San Francisco Symphony for five seasons as a cover conductor for the Orchestra's subscription concerts. He was a speaker in the San Francisco Symphony's series of Inside Music talks, led the Orchestra in Concerts for Kids, and conducted a program at Stern Grove which attracted 20,000 listeners.

John Farrer is director of the California Conducting Institute, a national training program held in Bakersfield. Conductors from around the world participated in the eighth workshop in May 2008. Mr. Farrer was also an instructor at the London Conducting Workshop at the Royal College of Music the summers of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. 

Mr. Farrer is a member of the music advisory committee of the Young Musicians Foundation of Los Angeles, a board member of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, and a national trustee of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  In January, 2007, Mr. Farrer was elected to the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild, the international organization representing the interests of conductors.