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Music Director
- John Pryce-Jones
John was educated at Penarth and Worcester,
from where he won an Organ Scholarship to Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge. He studied conducting with George Hurst and Rafael
Kubelik.
He began his career as Assistant Chorus
Master with the Welsh National Opera Company, was founder
Chorus Master of Opera North, and has been Head of Music of
Scottish Opera and Music Director of The D'Oyly Carte Opera
Company. He has been Music Director of Northern Ballet Theatre
since 1992 and is Artistic Director of the Halifax Choral
Society and the North of England Chamber Orchestra.
He has conducted throughout the UK,
including BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Ulster Orchestra,
the CBSO, RLPO, BBC Philharmonic, LPO, English National Opera
and English National Ballet. Abroad he has conducted in the
USA, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, the Czech Republic,
Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Scandinavia and Turkey. He has
also worked extensively in the Brass band field both in this
country and overseas.
Throughout his career he has been actively
involved with young musicians and has conducted many Youth
Orchestras and Choirs, and also the National Youth Brass Band.
He has a fanatical commitment to encouraging and expanding
the provision of music for young people as a stimulus for
general education and confidence building. He is the founder
Artistic Director of NOEL (Northern Orchestral Enterprises
Ltd.) based at Dean Clough in Halifax, which has re-established
the Yorkshire Youth Orchestra and formed 5 Children's Choirs
for children of 4 and upwards, based on Kodaly principles,
in Halifax, Bradford, Dewsbury, Grimsby and Rotherham. Last
year NOEL received a grant from the National Foundation of
Music to form the Calderdale Boys Choir and the Yorkshire
Youth Choir. Huddersfield University recently conferred on
John the Honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of his
work.
He has made a number of recordings
with the D’Oyly Carte., the Halifax Choral Society and
the Britannia Brass Band, the Opera North Chorus, and the
Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra . The recording of Great
Expectations, with NBT Orchestra, won a record of the year
award from the Gramophone magazine in December 2000.
John is married to a musician, Alison,
who now teaches and conducts numerous choirs, and has two
children - a son, Rodric, who plays lead guitar in the successful
rock band Idlewild, and a young daughter, Catrin, who is a
member of the National Children’s Orchestra.
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