Elfyn Jones

Elfyn Jones was born and brought up in North Wales and trained at University of Wales College of Cardiff and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was also on attachment to London Sinfonietta Education. Since then he has worked across the UK and beyond for Opera Circus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, National Youth Music Theatre, ENO Baylis, Welsh National Opera, Opera North and a host of other organisations as a composer, vocal animateur, musical director, arranger, stage manager, pianist, guitarist, accordionist and

djembe player. He is Lead Composer Tutor for South West Music School. His two operas (The Nightjar, 1999 and Jacko's Hour, 2009) attracted national critical acclaim at their first performances, and he is currently working on his third, The Trial of Jean Rhys, developed through Royal Opera House's VOX2 programme and showcased at Linbury Studio and Opera Europa conference earlier this year. New excerpts from The Trial of Jean Rhys

will be shown at ROH Exposure in 2012. His Symphony No 1: The Journey was premiered in May by de

Havilland Philharmonic at University of Herts.

TV appearances include being Gareth Malone's accompanist

in the BBC2 series The Choir this year. He has been commissioned twice by WNO this year: his piece

Imaginary Voyage/Fair and Softly Goes Far was featured in NDCW’s Summerdance 2011 project, and he is

one of a team of composers chosen to lead the Wrexham Soap Opera project Nine Stories High in 2011-12.

Recent works by Elfyn Jones include:

The Trial of Jean Rhys, opera in progress developed through VOX2 at ROH, libretto Eleanor Knight.

Imaginary Voyage for string orchestra, marimba and percussion, WNO commission. Premiered on 6th

August 2011 at New Theatre Cardiff as part of National Dance Company of Wales Summerdance 2011.

Symphony No 1: The Journey premiered by de Havilland Philharmonic at Weston Auditorium, University

of Hertfordshire, 8th May 2011.

Jacko’s Hour, opera in 3 acts commissioned as The Dead of Night by Opera North in 2002, premiered by

Opera Engine at Brighton Pavilion Theatre and Bridewell Theatre, London, September 2009.

String Quartet No 1, premiered by Aylwin String Quartet at University of Hertfordshire Mayfest 2008, and

released on CD on the album ‘...And the birds sang too’ by UH Recordings in 2008.

Comments on Elfyn Jones’s work:

‘I was so thrilled with the performance! It had a coherence and completeness that marked it out from

former years, and I really loved the piece! Many thanks Elfyn!’

Rhian Hutchings, WNO MAX Director, on Imaginary Voyage, WNO commission for Summerdance 11

‘Thank you for composing that wonderful 1st Symphony, ‘The Journey’. It was a truly thrilling experience

listening to the journey unfold and we felt very privileged to have been at its premiere.’

Audience feedback from premiere of Symphony No 1: The Journey, May 2011

‘Elfyn Jones is a talented and inventive composer, with a particular aptitude for theatre and the human

voice... this opera will be a strong musical and dramatic event’

John Lloyd Davies, Head of Opera Development, ROH2, Royal Opera House, on The Trial of Jean Rhys

‘Jacko’s Hour is a well-constructed piece of work, its three acts well paced, with tension mounting

steadily to the climactic showdown. Jones’s score has an attractive surface simplicity, which enables easy

forays into different musical styles.’

Rob Witts, Opera magazine, November 2009