John Beswick - Education and General Biography
 John was a music scholar at Bristol Cathedral School and Organ
Scholar of Hertford College, Oxford, where he read music. He studied as a
postgraduate répétiteur at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama before winning a scholarship to study conducting at the Royal College of
Music, where his teachers included George Hurst, Neil Thomson and Odaline de la
Martinez. John then won a scholarship to study with Diego Masson at the 1996
Dartington International Summer School where he was chosen to conduct the
Festival performances of Rigoletto.
Since
then, John's talent and versatility have enabled him to work in a wide variety
of areas covering many styles and genres of music. Currently Musical Director
for Swansea City Opera, he has also worked as Musical Director for Pimlico
Opera and Opera Box and has worked on the music staff for Icelandic National
Opera and Grange Park Opera. Other companies he has worked for as a conductor
include London City Opera and Crystal Clear Opera, and his work itinerary has
seen him conduct opera throughout the UK, America and in Europe.
John
is also the current Principal Conductor of Redhill Sinfonia, a post he has held
since the summer of 2012. Orchestras he has previously conducted include the
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, the Oxford Chamber Orchestra, Oxford University
Orchestra and Slough Philharmonic. As well as having a great experience of
conducting core orchestral repertoire, John specialises in conducting concerts
of film music and, in 2009, gave the UK premiere of BAFTA award winning
composer Dan Jones' suite from the film Shadow of the
Vampire.
In
the field of music theatre John has conducted numerous shows, including Les
Misérables (West End) and Miss Saigon (UK Tour) for Sir
Cameron Mackintosh, and Damon Albarn's pop-opera Monkey Journey to the
West (Monkeys' World at the O2). He has worked on many student productions
both at home and abroad, and he is in constant demand as a keyboard player in
London's West End and on touring shows. Other projects with which John has been
involved include Swansea City Opera's From Cars to Mars in association
with Dragon Arts, and he has clocked up almost 6 months 'inside' having thrice
been Musical Director for Pimlico Opera's famous Prison Projects.
John
keeps himself busy as an arranger and has had many of his arrangements
performed. In particular John arranges orchestral film music as well as
slightly simplified versions of classic pieces for school or youth orchestra.
He also enjoys producing reduced orchestrations of operas or shows, and his
6-piece band arrangement of The Magic Flute attracted very positive
reviews when it was performed on tour by Swansea City
Opera. |
