Born in Cartmel UK, John Owen Edwards won a scholarship in composition to Worcester College, Oxford.
Since then, his career has encompassed all aspects of music theatre. He has been musical director for Annie at the Victoria Palace, Oklahama! at The Palace, The Mitford Girls at the Globe, Valmouth at the Chichester Festival, Goodbye Mr Chips at Chichester, Evita at the Prince Edward, James and the Giant Peach at Sadlers Wells, Torch Song Trilogy at the Albery, The Sloane Ranger Revue at the Duchess, Chess at the Prince Edward, the British premiere of Johnny Johnson at the Almeida and of, Nine in Melbourne, The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s, The Wizard of Oz for the RSC at the Barbican, A Little Night Music at the Piccadilly, Anything Goes at the Prince Edward, Born Again at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Guys and Dolls and Damn Yankees at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.
In the world of opera, he has conducted The Tales of Hoffmann and The Student Prince at the Victoria State Opera, Peace for Opera North, Mahagonny Songspiel at the Mermaid, the British première of Street Scene at the Palace, A Man of Feeling (Stephen Oliver) at the King’s Head, The Marriage of Figaro in Barbados; elsewhere La Bohème, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Barber of Seville and La Périchole.
For a number of years he was Music Director of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, for which he has conducted Patience, The Yeomen of the Guard, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Orpheus in the Underworld, Die Fledermaus, The Count of Luxembourg and La Vie Parisienne.
Notable among nearly 30 CD recordings are: Kismet, West Side Story, Showboat, My Fair Lady, Kiss me Kate, The King and I, The Dancing Years, Anything Goes, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof, Salad Days, Patience, Oliver. He has also appeared on the South Bank Show, BBC1, BBC2, Granada and on Radio 2 and 4.
Recent work includes a series of Gilbert & Sullivan concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Les Miserables in Germany, an EMI recording and concert with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Alfie Boe, concerts with the Norrköping SO, Orebro Sinfonietta and VIVA, The Mikado and The Gondoliers for D’Oyly Carte, a Gala Concert with the East of England Orchestra, Orpheus in the Underworld for British Youth Opera, The Merry Widow and Fledermaus Holland Park, Beautiful and Damned (Musical Superviser) Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue,
the Broadway production of Show Boat for the Opéra du Rhin, The King and I in the West End, Oklahoma! (including cast recording and video) with Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre and in the West End, The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore (recorded with TER) with D’Oyly Carte, concerts and recordings with ABBA in Sweden, The Wizard of Oz in Hong Kongand West Side Story with the Vlaams Radio Orkest, The Yeomen of the Guard for BYO.
Current season: concerts in Dublin and Sweden, Orpheus in the Underworld for OHP.