Biography

Since winning the special 'Orchestra Prize' at the Bela Bartok Opera Conducting Competition in 2005, and completing his doctorate at Cambridge in 2007, John Andrews has been increasingly in demand for his musical fluency, passion and skill.

He is Music Director of Stanley Hall Opera, where this year he is conducting a double-bill of Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) and The Impressario (Mozart). His concert schedule includes returning to conduct the English Symphony Orchestra and their leader Michael Bochman in a pair of concerts including Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 7, and, after a rapturously-received performance at the English Music Festival this Summer, they will close the Festival in 2012 with a concert of Parry and Delius, and in 2013 with Sir Arthur Sullivan's 'the Golden Legend'. He has just been appointed Chorus Master of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and recently worked on Opera Rara's recording of Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro as well as rehearsing the BBC Concert Orchestra for their 'Comedy' Prom. This summer he is conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) for Opera de Baugé and working on Garsington Opera's production of Don Giovanni.

For English Touring Opera, he has conducted Tolomeo (Handel), Don Giovanni (Mozart) and Anna Bolena (Donizetti). He has conducted La Cenerentola (Rossini) at Garsington Opera, Cosi fan tutte (Mozart) for English Chamber Opera, Orfeo e Euridice (Gluck) at St John's Smith Square, The Barber of Seville and Eugene Onegin at Stanley Hall Opera; La Boheme, Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Handel), Riccardo Primo (Handel), Enfuhrung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Don Pasquale (Donizetti), and La Traviata (Verdi) for Opera de Baugé, and La Traviata (Verdi) for Pop-Up-Opera. He is a resident conductor for City Music Services for whom he has conducted Carmen (Bizet) at Sadlers Wells, and The Magic Flute (Mozart) at Glyndebourne. He has worked with Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic on Der Fliegende Hollander (Wagner), and has worked at the Royal Opera House on Tosca (Puccini). He is on the music staff at Garsington Opera, where he has assisted David Parry and Douglas Boyd on Don Pasquale (Donizetti), Il Turco in Italia (Rossini), La donna del lago (Rossini), and Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart). He will return there in 2013 to work on Mahometto Secondo (Rossini).

As part of his commitment to education work for all ages, he has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in Carnival of the Animals (Saint Saens) in the West End Live Festival. After a succesful performance at the Spitalfields Festival, he is now the Principal Conductor of the newly-formed THAMES Youth Orchestra. He’s also playing a key role in developing plans for the Water City Festival, which links the 2012 Olympics to arts and regeneration in East London.

He is passionately interested in locating music in its social and historical context. His doctorate is on the political and religious world of eighteenth-century oratorio, and he writes programme articles, including for New York City Opera. He has appeared on Radio 4 discussing his research work on Handel’s Semele, and recently began a series of lectures at the Elgar School of Music on the birth of English Opera.

John lives in London with Susan, Frances and Katharine, and their two cats, Goldie and Isis.