Described recently in the Observer as a ‘tremendous young conductor’, John Andrews is increasingly in demand thanks to a conducting style that combines empathy and feel for both music and musicians with an ability to communicate his ideas directly and powerfully. He is conductor-in-association of the English Symphony Orchestra, and currently works with The BBC Concert Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra.
With a special affinity for Italian bel canto and the English baroque, John has conducted over 40 operas for Garsington Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park, Stanley Hall Opera, Co-Opera and Opéra de Baugé.
A powerful exponent of neglected English music, John has recently conducted recordings of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Shakespearean music with the BBC Concert Orchestra, newly-discovered works by Sir Malcolm Sargent with the Leicester Symphony Orchestra. Plans for 2015/2016 include conducting Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Rostock Volkstheater, and Pia de Tolomeiand Don Giovanni for English Touring Opera. Beyond that, he will also be conducting two further recordings of English music with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the premier of Percy Sherwood’s ‘Double Concerto’ for Violin and Cello with the English Symphony Orchestra at the English Music Festival.
He lectures for the Cambridge Music Hubs programme, is currently devising a schools project with theBlackheath Conservatoire, and has lectured at the Elgar School of Music on the birth of English Opera.
John is also passionately interested in locating music in its social and historical context, He has a Cambridge doctorate on the political and religious world of eighteenth-century oratorio, writes programme articles, and has appeared on Radio 4 discussing his research on Handel’s Semele.