David Lloyd-Jones, who has died aged 87, was not only a conductor, but also a scholar, translator and a leading light in British musical life. Perhaps only his friend Charles Mackerras before him displayed as wide a range of expertise and sympathies, Lloyd-Jones’s editions ranging from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov to Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers.
He made his greatest mark in 1978, when along with Lord (George) Harewood and Graham Marchant he founded Opera North, known at the outset as English National Opera North. Marchant acted as general administrator, while Lloyd-Jones became the first music director of the company and its orchestra, known initially as the English Northern Philharmonia, the first of its kind in Leeds. The touring programme to other regional centres and out-of-the-way venues was just as vital as performances at the Grand Theatre, the company’s base.
