“Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s Huw Edwards says the 2019-20 season will be his last in Olympia,” writes Abby Spegman in Sunday’s (9/22) Olympian (Washington). “This is Edwards’ 17th year with OSO, where he is music director and conductor. The Wales-born maestro … said he wants to spend more time with his ailing parents in the United Kingdom.… ‘The orchestra is playing really well, sounding fantastic and I’d like to think it has improved during my tenure,’ he said. ‘However, it is time for someone else—a fresh voice with different tastes,’ he said, joking his departure is a ‘negotiated’ Brexit. Jennifer Hermann, OSO’s executive director, said the board heard the news Tuesday and the orchestra learned Wednesday at its first rehearsal of the season…. The orchestra is prepared for the transition. ‘Of course they will miss him, the community will miss him,’ said Hermann. ‘Huw is an icon.… But he has created an orchestra that will be able to withstand that transition.’ … An offer to work for the Portland Youth Philharmonic brought Edwards to the Pacific Northwest in 1995. Later he directed the Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra.”
Posted September 27, 2019
