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"Right from the start, we know we are in for a treat", Elgar Society Journal
 

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Our Conductor, Howard Williams

THE OBSERVER: "Williams’s direction was electrifying."

Our Conductor, Howard Williams, is one of Britain’s most experienced conductors, both in the opera house and concert hall, with a quite exceptionally large and broadly-based symphonic repertoire and over seventy opera titles to his credit.

Howard Williams (Conductor)

OPERA: "Howard Williams gave a powerful and passionate reading of the score."

Howard has conducted most of the leading orchestras of the UK, as well as many leading European orchestras. Howard studied music at Oxford and Liverpool Universities and conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Through his close involvement with singers and singing he has developed a strong and continuing association with choirs both with and away from the orchestra, including the ENO Chorus, BBC Singers, the choirs of Austrian Radio and of Bavarian Radio, the Hungarian State Choir, the French Army Male Voice Choir, and Leeds Festival Chorus.

THE GRAMOPHONE: "Williams is the ideal partner, breathing life into every bar of the orchestration"

Following his appointment in 1989 as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Pécs Symphony Orchestra, making him the first British conductor ever to hold such a position in Hungary, Howard devoted a significant amount of his time to working with the leading symphony orchestras in that country. His work with the Pécs Symphony quickly placed it in the forefront of Hungarian orchestras, and with it he created a broad and adventurous repertoire, ranging from Stravinsky and Mahler cycles to many world premières. For his services to new Hungarian music, Williams has been the recipient of an Artisjus award, and in 1997 was honoured with the Bartók medal for services to Hungarian music abroad.

MÜNCHNER MERKUR: "Howard Williams conducted with focus and absolute control."

On leaving Pécs in 2000, Williams was created Permanent Guest Conductor by the orchestra - now renamed the Pannon Philharmonic. In the same year he was appointed to the new post of Head of Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, as well as becoming Artistic Director of the Oxford Orchestra da Camera. Through his close involvement with singers and singing he has developed a strong and continuing association with choirs both with and away from the orchestra.