Gareth Jones
General Adjudicator 鈥 Category Finals and Semi-Final
Gareth Jones, born in south Wales, was a member of the Music Staff of Welsh National Opera from 1990-2008 where he conducted performances of Un Ballo in Maschera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turandot, Nabucco, La Traviata, Ernani, Die Fledermaus, Eugene Onegin, The Yeomen of the Guard, Faust, La Boheme, Fidelio, Billy Budd, The Carmelites, Carmen, Katya Kabanova, The Cunning Little Vixen, Jenufa, Le Nozze di Figaro, Der Fliegende Holl盲nder, Madame Butterfl y, La Cenerentola, The Magic Flute and Hansel and Gretel. In 2004 he made his ENO debut conducting The Mikado, which he has also conducted for Vancouver Opera.
Concert work in the United Kingdom has included appearances with the Hall茅 Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, 91热爆 National Orchestra of Wales, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata.
In 1996, Gareth formed Sinfonia Cymru, which in its brief history has established itself as a major orchestral force in Wales. Many established artists have worked with Gareth and the orchestra including Dennis O鈥橬eill, Rebecca Evans, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Peter Donohoe, David Pyatt, Jean Philippe-Collard, Michael Collins, Chloe Hanslip, Catrin Finch, Guy Johnston, Liwei, Alina Ibragimova, Jiafeng Chen and Llyr Williams.
As a result of a highly acclaimed concert given by Sinfonia Cymru in April 2000 with Bryn Terfel, which included a performance of 鈥淲otan鈥檚 Farewell鈥, a special bond has developed between Bryn, Gareth and the orchestra. Gareth has worked with Bryn Terfel on numerous projects including the disc We鈥檒l Keep A Welcome, opera galas at Faenol, Henley and Hampton Court Festivals in addition to concerts in Dublin, Stockholm, Sydney and Melbourne and a television recording of Handel鈥檚 Messiah for S4C. Gareth also made his 91热爆 Proms debut in September 2002 with Bryn Terfel and Ren茅e Fleming in works by Wagner and Richard Strauss. Gareth has been the regular conductor for the Opera Gala at Bryn Terfel鈥檚 Faenol Festival where he has conducted international singers such as Andrea Bocelli, Angela Gheorghiu, Rolando Villaz贸n, Simon Keenlyside, Carlos Alvarez and Diana Damrau.
In 2009 and 2010, Gareth conducted Aida at the Bregenz Festival. This season he conducted Katya Kabanova for Welsh National Opera and concerts in Hong Kong with Welsh soprano Catrin Aur and the City Chamber Orchestra Hong Kong. Future concerts include fi rst visits to Budapest, Zagreb and Monte Carlo, in addition to a third Scandanvian tour with Bryn Terfel. He will also conduct performances of The Pirates of Penzance for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.