Testimonials for the work of Elfyn Jones
‘Elfyn, please keep writing operas. Be bolstered in the knowledge that all of us in the cast and the audience really loved your work.’
Brian Smith Walters, Jacko in Jacko’s Hour
‘What a triumph! Congratulations from all of us…’
Steve Moffitt, Kate Cockburn, Alice King-Farlow, Rebecca Branch, ENO Baylis on The Firebucket
‘Bravo – to my mind it was certainly the strongest piece of the evening… I thought you set the words with great naturalness and maturity.’
Judith Weir CBE on The Nightjar
‘It continues to be such a joy to work with you – your flexibility and constantly bubbling creativity and real affection for the participants is unmatched.’
Clair Chapwell, Director, Spare Tyre Theatre Company
‘One heard grinding Tom Waits classics, Ranchera, lounge lizardry, jazzy bluesy organs and great hacking fistfuls of dissonance as high noon approached. And the percussion that marked out the progression towards doom… was incredibly evocative.’
Fiona Halliday, Run Riot online review on Jacko’s Hour (Opera Engine)
‘Thank you so, so much for all of your fantastic playing and confidence building’
Alison Farrell, cast member The Secret Garden (&Co Young Theatre Company)
‘Opera North has enjoyed a long and interesting relationship with the composer Elfyn Jones… he is a very generous composer, a great collaborator, and a powerful writer of music for the voice’
Dominic Gray, Director, Opera North Projects
‘Musically, Jacko's Hour is accessible, lyrical and dramatic, and matches well the emotions and fears that we all have and identify with… Jones's score has its own remit and holds the attention… a real, poignant, disturbing and involving music-theatre experience.’
Colin Anderson, The Opera Critic online review
‘Thank you once again for all your hard work, effort, ideas, boundless energy and enthusiasm… we were very fortunate to have such a talented artist in our presence for three days during our creative week.’
Fiona Rankin, Music Co-ordinator, Austin Farm Community Primary School, Plymouth
‘Four years of joyous working with you – endless wonderful wonderful songs – Elfyn you are a genius’
Clair Chapwell, Director, Spare Tyre Theatre Company
‘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; highlights included Jacko’s wife Grace’s aria at the opening of Act 3... and an exciting Act 1 ensemble for the showmen.’
Rob Witts, Opera magazine on Jacko’s Hour (Opera Engine)
Latest News
BSO South West Composers' Day
24 Jan 2013
The third movement of my symphony, The Journey Part III, is to be featured as part of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's South West Composers' Day. Watch this space, or for more information visit:
The Trial of Jean Rhys at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival
30 May 2012
Video link now live at http://www.tete-a-tete.org.uk/the-trial-of-jean-rhys-2/ Many thanks to all at Tête à Tête, and to the wonderful cast. To commission this opera contact elfyn@elfynjones.org.uk
The Trial of Jean Rhys at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival
03 Feb 2012
Riverside Studios Hammersmith London 9, 10 August 2012 The Trial of Jean Rhys music by Elfyn Jones libretto by Eleanor Knight Part of Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Royal Opera House Exposure 2012
03 Feb 2012
Royal Opera House Exposure 2012 Linbury Studio Theatre Royal Opera House 16 | 17 | 18 February Exposure:Opera The Trial of Jean Rhys: Montparnasse music by Elfyn Jones libretto by Eleanor Knight Exposure:Opera shows fragments and glimpses of arias, scenes, animated film and ambient music, featuring recent world premieres as well as future commissions and work in development. Presented in cabaret style, with a bar in the Linbury Studio Theatre, Exposure:Opera creates a relaxed environment to experience new work. The Trial of Jean Rhys is an opera-in-progress developed at ROH2's VOX2 in 2010-11. Excerpts were shown at Exposure and Opera Europa in 2011 and will appear at Tete a...
The Choir
03 Nov 2011
Award-winning programme The Choir comes to Devon with Elfyn Jones on keys as the military wives of RMB Chivenor and Plymouth discover the joys of choral singing under Gareth's (metaphorical) baton. For more details go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0178gcj
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Elfyn Jones is an inspiring composer with a unique voice and a growing national reputation. Currently he lectures on Plymouth University's BEd course (composition and practical musicianship) and is South West Music School's Lead Composer Tutor. He has worked for Opera Circus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, National Youth Music Theatre, ENO Baylis, Welsh National Opera and Opera North amongst others. He has written two operas (The Nightjar, 1999 and Jacko's Hour, 2009), both of which attracted national critical acclaim at their first performances, and is currently working on his third, The Trial of Jean Rhys, libretto by Eleanor Knight, developed through Royal Opera House's VOX2 programme. It was featured at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival in August 2012 and excerpts were showcased at Linbury Studio and the Opera Europa conference in 2011 and 2012. His Symphony No 1: The Journey was premiered in May 2011. Commissioned work includes The Firebucket for ENO Baylis (1998), The Nightjar for Tete a Tete (1999), The Dead of Night for Opera North (2003), Fair and Softly Goes Far for National Dance Company of Wales/WNO (2011), and Nine Stories High for WNO (2012). Awakening, an overture for chamber orchestra, will be premiered in 2013 by Sinfonia Musicisti.
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