Downes, Sir Edward (Thomas)
Downes, Sir Edward (Thomas)
Downes, Sir Edward (Thomas), respected English conductor; b. Birmingham, June 17, 1924. After studies at the Univ. of Birmingham (M. A., 1944), he took courses in horn and composition at the Royal Coll. of Music in London (1944–46). In 1948 he received the Carnegie Scholarship and pursued training in conducting with Scherchen. He was an asst. conductor with the Carl Rosa Opera (1950–52); he then was on the conducting staff at London’s Covent Garden (1952–69), where he led an extensive repertoire of standard and modern scores, including his own translation of Shostakovich’s
Katerina Ismailova (1963); he also conducted Wagner’s Ring cycle there (1967). In 1972 he became musical director of the Australian Opera in Sydney, inaugurating the new Sydney Opera House in 1973 with his own translation of Prokofiev’s War and Peace. In 1976 he left this post, and in 1980 became principal conductor of the BBC Northern Sym. Orch. in Manchester, a post he retained in 1983 when it was renamed the BBC Phil. In 1992 he left this post, having been appointed assoc. music director and principal conductor at Covent Garden in 1991. In 1986 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 1991 he was knighted.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire