Huw Edwards
Huw Edwards is now in his eighth season as Music Director of the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, having been selected after a yearlong audition process during the 2002-3 Season. There has been a palpable sense of excitement in Olympia following Huw's appointment and Edwards is credited with greatly improving the quality of the Orchestra, selecting challenging yet rewarding programs and being very active in the community. Last season's World Tour Revisited highlights included performances of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, Schubert's "Great C-major" Symphony, the pithy Ninth Symphony by Shostakovich, and Sibelius' passionate Violin Concerto with Jun Iwasaki as soloist.
Mr. Edwards is also the Music Director of the Columbia Symphony in Portland, Oregon—a post he has held since 2000—and has consistently received critical acclaim from audiences, guest soloists and the press for his intense performances and daring programming. Recent highlights have included performances of Elgar's symphonic study Falstaff, the Second Symphony by Brahms, excerpts from Verdi's Otello, Bartok's Third Piano Concerto as well as world premiere performances of commissioned works by several Pacific Northwest composers.
From 2002-5 Mr. Edwards was Music Director of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and was a faculty member at the Marrowstone Music Festival from 1998 to 2005. Mr. Edwards moved to Seattle after seven memorable seasons (1995-2002) as Music Director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic in Oregon, a tenure which included numerous innovations, a coveted ASCAP Award and landmark tours to Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Active as a guest conductor, Mr. Edwards has performed with the Oregon Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, Yakima Symphony and has worked with the symphony orchestras of Dallas and Memphis, as well as with ensembles in Illinois, New York, Idaho, Vermont, Utah, Minnesota, Oregon, Nebraska, Washington, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, and throughout the United Kingdom. This season Huw makes a long-awaited return to the Salem Chamber Orchestra in November, makes an unprecedented third guest appearance at the "Music-in-May" Festival at Pacific University, and will be the conductor-clinician with the Portland Chamber Music Camp. He will be a guest conductor for the fourth time with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra at their "Concerts on the Square" this coming summer and will make his debut with the Northwest Mahler Festival Orchestra in June.
Born in Wales, Great Britain, Mr. Edwards holds degrees from the University of Surrey in England and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Mr. Edwards came to the Northwest from Chicago, Illinois, where he was a lecturer at Northwestern University and a Doctoral candidate. Mr. Edwards has been active as a conductor since the age of 17 when he was appointed Music Director of the Maidstone Opera Company in England—a post he held for six years—and came to the United States in 1988 on scholarship to attend SMU in Texas. His principal teachers have been Simon Johnson and Barry Wordsworth (London), Anshel Brusilow and Eduardo Mata (Dallas), and Victor Yampolsky (Chicago).
Outside of music Huw enjoys golf, kayaking, Rhone wines, movies, the Chicago Bears, time with good friends and is a member of Olympia Crossfit Training—where he is indebted to Robbie, Juanita and Alex for their verbal motivation under physical duress!