John Andrews is Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and Artist-in-Association with the English Symphony Orchestra. Born in Nairobi and brought up in Manchester, he graduated from Cambridge University with a doctorate in music and history.
With a special affinity for Italian bel canto and the English baroque, he has conducted over 40 operas for The Grange Festival, Opera Holland Park, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera de Baugé and the Volkstheater Rostock. An exponent of neglected English music he has appeared regularly at the English Music Festival presenting works from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries.
He has made over twenty recordings for Resonus Classics, Decca Classics, Dutton Epoch, Toccata Classics, and EM records, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the BBC Singers and the Manchester Camerata. He has won the BBC Music Magazine ‘Best Opera Recording’ Award twice, first for his recording of Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master, and again in 2023 for Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley, both for Resonus Classics.
He lives in London with his wife, children, three cats and corn-snake.