Sian Edwards

Sian Edwards

Principal Conductor

Sian Edwards studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and with Professor A.I. Musin at the Leningrad Conservatoire. She has worked with many of the world’s leading orchestras including Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland, Orchestre de Paris, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Berlin Symphony, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, MDR Leipzig, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Royal Flanders Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, the Hallé, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has a close relationship with Ensemble Modern in Germany.

She made her operatic debut in 1986 conducting Weill's Mahagonny for Scottish Opera and her Royal Opera House debut in 1988 with Tippett's The Knot Garden. From 1993 to 1995 she was Music Director of English National Opera for whom her repertoire included Khovanshchina, Jenufa, Queen of Spades and Blond Eckbert. For the Glyndebourne Festival she has conducted La Traviata and the Ravel Double Bill, and for Glyndebourne Touring Opera Katya Kabanova and Tippett's New Year. She conducted the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Munich Biennale in 1988. Recent engagements have included the world premiere of Hans Gefors' Clara for the Opéra Comique in Paris, Cosi fan tutte in Aspen, her return to English National Opera for Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni in Copenhagen, Damnation de Faust in Helsinki, Peter Grimes and Tchaikovsky Queen of Spades in Frankfurt; Previn A Streetcar Named Desire and Heggie Dead Man Walking at the Theater an der Wien, Weir A Night at the Chinese Opera for Scottish Opera, Jenufa for Welsh National Opera, Hansel and Gretel for the Royal Academy of Music, Aquarius by Karel Goegvaerts for Flanders Opera, a new ballet, Orlando, for the Staatstheater Stuttgart and, most recently, The Rape of Lucretia for the Theater an der Wien.

Sian Edwards' recordings include Peter and the Wolf, Britten's Young Person's Guide, and Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony, all with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Judith Weir's Blond Eckbert with English National Opera.

Recent and future concert engagements include the Ensemble Modern, Bayerische Rundfunk in Munich, SWR Sinfonieorchester Freiburg, Kuopio Symphony, Turku Philharmonic, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Milton Keynes City Orchestra, Palestinian Youth Orchestra, Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, Musikfabrik, London Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, concerts at the Edinburgh International Festival as well as a UK tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. She has also recently taken part in a new film by Tony Palmer on Holst. Future operatic engagements include The Rake’s Progress for Scottish Opera and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Danish Opera.