Elgar Howarth

English conductor, composer and trumpeter Elgar Howarth was born in Cannock, Staffordshire on 4 November 1935 into a brass band family, and was taught to play cornet and trumpet by his conductor father. He studied at Manchester University and at the Royal Manchester College of Music. With his Manchester colleagues Harrison Birtwistle, David Ellis, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies and John Ogdon, he formed New Music Manchester to perform new music.

He began his career as a trumpeter in various London orchestras, including at the Royal Opera, and performed with the main British orchestras and also in other countries.

His compositions and arrangements were mostly for brass instruments, including Pictures at an Exhibition arranged for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, a group which he played in and conducted. Håkan Hardenberger gave first performances of several Elgar Howarth works on cornet.

Howarth's conducting career began in the early 1970s. In 1978, at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, he conducted the first performance of György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre and further performances in Hamburg, London and Paris. Later he conducted the first performances of four Harrison Birtwistle operas - The Mask of Orpheus (1986), Yan Tan Tethera (1986), Gawain (1991) and The Second Mrs Kong (1994).

Elgar Howarth (1935-2025)
Elgar Howarth (1935-2025)

 

At Opera North he was principal guest conductor (1985-88) and music advisor (2002-4). He also worked as a conductor with the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Beatles, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Black Dyke Mills Band, Cleo Lane, English National Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, Opera Australia, Opera Factory, Royal Opera, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra.

Elgar Howarth died on 13 January 2025, aged eighty-nine.

 

A selection of articles about Elgar Howarth

Classical music news - January 2025 Obituaries - Our summary of those the classical music world has lost this month

Classical music news. Obituary - Alexander Goehr (1932-2024)

Ensemble. Another Treat - Martinu's 'Mirandolina' at Garsington Opera, by Roderic Dunnett