Jeff Snowdon

Biography

Jeff Snowdon's career has led him down many of the highways and byways of the music profession with various combinations of playing, teaching and conducting. 

He started out as a professional Horn Player, studying at the Royal Northern College of Music under eminent soloists Ifor James, Michael Purton, Derek Taylor and Julian Baker. In a playing career spanning nearly twenty years he worked  with many of the country’s leading symphony and chamber orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic (touring Brazil, Germany, Belgium and Holland), the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Hallé Orchestra, Opera North, Manchester Camerata, Northern Sinfonia, Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Northern Chamber Orchestra, English National Ballet and Moscow Ballet.

He was a member of the East of England Orchestra (now Sinfonia Viva) until joining the Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra, with which he played for six years. Recent engagements have included the Manchester Concert Orchestra and performances as guest Principal Horn with the Orchestra of the Swan, English Serenata and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo.

As well as Orchestral Work he has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, D’Oyly Carte and Carl Rosa Opera Companies and many theatrical productions including the West End productions of "Evita", "Jesus Christ Superstar", Tommy Steel's "Singing in the Rain", "Pickwick", "My Fair Lady", "Pacific Overtures" at the Leicester Haymarket and "Into the Woods" for Manchester Library Theatre. For Television he recently played for the final of "Stars in Their Eyes".

His solo work has included performances of Schumann’s Konzertstuck, Mozart Concertos  3 and 4 with the Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra,  Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and most recently Mozart's 4th Horn concerto with the Derbyshire Sinfonia. Chamber music performances have included the Brahms Horn Trio with Clare McFarlane and Francis Rayner. 

Conductor

Jeff studied conducting under George Hurst at Canford as well as short courses with Timothy Reynish, Peter Stark, Denise Ham and Michael Rose.

Jeff is currently Director of the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire Wind Orchestra and Principal Musical Director of the Dark Peak Music Trust, conducting the Dark Peak Youth Orchestra and Dark Peak Concert Band.

He has also conducted the Derbyshire Sinfonia including performances of Schubert Symphony No. 5, Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks and Beethoven Symphony No 7. 

Guest conducting appearances have included The English Serenata with soloist Sir Willard White, Nottingham Symphony Orchestra,  Derby Symphony Orchestra Derbyshire City and County Youth Orchestra and the Tintwistle Brass Band.

Dark Peak Music Trust

In addition to his busy performing schedule Jeff has become increasingly involved in promoting music and working with young musicians in Derbyshire. He founded the Dark Peak Youth Orchestra and the Dark Peak Concert Band which are now run by the Dark Peak Music Trust. Oringinally working under the aegis of Peak District Music Centres, the new Trust was formed in 2008 following a review of music provision in the area to oversee ensemble development in the Glossop, New Mills and Chapel area.

For full details of the music centre go to www.darkpeakmusic.co.uk

Teaching

Jeff is tutor of Horn at Nottingham High School for Boys and the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire in addition to a teaching practice in his home town of Glossop. He has coached for the National Children's Orchestra as well as Derbyshire, Essex, Nottingham and Yorkshire Youth Orchestras

Other Projects

In 1991 Jeff founded the Glossop Concert Society of which he is currently the Artistic Director. He spent two years as Education Coordinator for the Buxton Festival, which culminated in running the Millennium Community Opera, the biggest theatrical project ever staged in the High Peak with over 300 performers.

Beyond Music

Outside of music Jeff is a keen swimmer and takes great pride in his allotment set on a hillside with beautiful views across the the Peak District and down into the valley of Glossop.

He met his wife flute player Maria Rayner at the RNCM and they were married in 1987. They have two children: Sylvia is a Cambridge graduate now teaching English at Pavia University in Italy, and Oliver is a forth year student at Churchill College, Cambridge, studying Physics. Sylvia is an accomplished pianist and Irish Whistler.