- Edward Downes
Sir Edward Thomas Downes, CBE (born
June 17 ,1924 inBirmingham ,England ) is an English conductor. He took up the piano and violin when he was five and sang as a boy chorister. At age sixteen he won a scholarship toBirmingham University where he studied English and music, and began playing theEnglish horn . Downes' pursuit of conducting was aided by a two-year Carnegie scholarship fromAberdeen , which allowed him to study withHermann Scherchen after postgraduate studies at theRoyal College of Music .The conductor's long and fruitful association with London's
Royal Opera House Covent Garden began in 1952 with his appointment as an assistant toRafael Kubelik . He remained a company member for 17 years, returning annually thereafter as a guest conductor before assuming the post of Associate Music Director in 1991. To date, Downes has conducted 950 performances of 49 operas at Covent Garden [http://www.ingpen.co.uk/artist_detail.php?aid=57] .Elsewhere, he became Australian Opera's Music Director in 1970, conducting the first performance in the
Sydney Opera House . He was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Orchestra until 1983. While Downes has worked with many of the world's symphony orchestras, he has enjoyed a particularly long relationship with theBBC Philharmonic (formerly the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra), serving as its Chief Guest Conductor, then Principal Conductor [Keith Potter, "Opera and Concert Reports" (Proms). "The Musical Times", 130(1760), pp. 621-635 (October 1989)."] , and finally as ConductorEmeritus .Downes is noted for his championing of British music, and for Prokofiev and Verdi. He has advocated the symphonies of George Lloyd and premiered works by
Peter Maxwell Davies andMalcolm Arnold . His passion forProkofiev has been felt in performances of both major and lesser-known Prokofiev scores throughout the world. He conducted the British première of War and Peace in a concert performance atLeeds Town Hall in 1967, and orchestrated Prokofiev's one-actopera "Maddalena" in 1979 and subsequently gave its world premiere.Downes' first experience of conducting the music of
Giuseppe Verdi came in 1953 when Kubelik withdrew from a Covent Garden "Otello " and Downes led the opera with no rehearsal. He felt on home ground, and since then has championed Verdi revivals in England. He has conducted 25 of Verdi's 28 operas, and he devised the idea to perform all of them in time for the 2001 centenary of the composer's death. Downes' regret is that he has never conducted "Alzira", "Un Giorno di Regno" or, especially, "Les vêpres siciliennes ". The conductor: "I seemed to understand Verdi as a person. He was a peasant. He had one foot in heaven and one on the earth. And this is why he appeals to all classes of people, from those who know everything about music to those who are hearing it for the first time." [http://www.selvesandothers.org/article2161.html]He was appointed CBE in 1986 and knighted in 1991.
References
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Edward Downes — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Sir Edward Downes (CBE) (Birmingham, Reino Unido, 17 de junio de 1924 Zurich, Suiza, 10 de julio de 2009)[1] fue un director de orquesta británico. Distinguido director inglés que condujo la orquesta del Covent… … Wikipedia Español
Edward Downes — Sir Edward Downes (* 17. Juni 1924 in Birmingham; † 10. Juli 2009 in Zürich) war ein britischer Dirigent. Obwohl er im Alter von 15 Jahren aus Geldmangel den Schulbesuch abbrechen musste, konnte er dank eines Stipendiums an der Birmingham… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Edward Downes (quizmaster) — Edward Olin Davenport Downes (August 12, 1911 December 26, 2001) was an American musicologist, music critic, and quizmaster.Born in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Olin Downes, at one time music critic of The Boston Evening Transcript and … Wikipedia
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Downes v. Bidwell — Supreme Court of the United States Argued January 8–11, 1901 Decided May 27, 1901 … Wikipedia
Downes v. Bidwell — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901), fue unos de los principales Casos insulares. El Tribunal Supremo de Estados Unidos sostuvo que la Constitución de los Estados Unidos no se aplica necesariamente a los… … Wikipedia Español
Edward C. Daly — born 27 April 1914 in Pink Hill, North Carolina, enlisted in the U.S. Navy 13 February 1934. Awarded Navy CrossCoxswain Daly was killed 7 December 1941 while serving in USS Downes (DD 375), damaged in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was… … Wikipedia
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