| Variations of Name | Steuart John Rudolf Beford |
| Biography | Steuart Bedford OBE was an English orchestral and opera conductor and pianist.
Between 1974 and 1998, he was one of the Artistic Directors of the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk. In 1989, he became joint artistic director with Oliver Knussen. In 2013, Bedford conducted a performance of Peter Grimes which was staged in its natural setting on the beach at Aldeburgh. His other work in contemporary opera included conducting the 1996 world premiere in Monte Carlo of Lowell Liebermann's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and also the 1999 US premiere.
Bedford conducted several commercial recordings of Britten operas, including the first recording of Death in Venice (Decca), as well as The Turn of the Screw (Collins Classics, since reissued on Naxos). He also recorded his Death in Venice suite and the major vocal cycles by Britten. Bedford made his operatic conducting debut in February 1964 at the Oxford Playhouse with Britten's Albert Herring. |