Jeff Snowdon

Conductor – Teacher – Hornplayer

In a career spanning 40 years in the music profession Jeff Snowdon started out as a professional hornplayer working with many of the country’s leading symphony and chamber orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Hallé Orchestra and many others.  He was a member of the orchestra of Northern Ballet Theatre and Sinfonia Viva and played in West End productions including Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady and Sondheim’s “Pacific Overtures”.

In 2000 Jeff founded the Dark Peak Concert Band, and later in 2004 the Orchestra of the Peaks, under the management of the Dark Peak Music Foundation. He furthered his conducting studies under the late George Hurst, as well as short courses with Timothy Reynish, Peter Stark and Denise Ham.   Recently appointed Head of Brass at the Royal Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, Jeff is much in demand as a teacher of horn and as a general brass playing clinician. He has worked extensively coaching youth orchestra sections including the National Children’s Orchestra, Derbyshire, Essex, Nottingham and Yorkshire Youth Orchestras.

In addition to his education work Jeff founded the Glossop Concert Society in 1991. During his time as Artistic Director he organised well over 100 professional concerts in the Peak District, recently handing over the baton of the organisation, which has grown into a nationally recognised chamber music festival. He spent two years as Education Coordinator for the Buxton Festival, which culminated in running the Millennium Community Opera, the biggest theatrical project ever staged in the High Peak with over 300 performers. He is now the Concert Manager for the Festival, which involves running 45 top-level concerts in a two-week musical frenzy each summer.