| Biography | Evan Idloes Owen was a Welsh singer, composer, and conductor. He was the principal founder of the Welsh National Opera.
Idloes Owen, was born in late 1894 in the mining village of Merthyr Vale in Glamorgan. His parents Richard and Jane originally came from Llanidloes a market town in Montgomeryshire mid-Wales. They moved to Merthyr Vale, to seek work in the valley mines further south. There were six children in the Owen family, two elder brothers John and Thomas, sisters Hannah and Mary, Idloes himself and a younger brother called Christmas. He and his brothers followed their father into the coal mines at the age of 12.
Idloes was later diagnosed with tuberculosis and after leaving the mines, was able to pursue his passion for music. There was a strong community spirit in the mining village, and his neighbours in Merthyr Vale recognised his musical ability, and raised money to send him to Music College to develop his talent.
He later moved to Cardiff and became a composer, arranger and conductor, and performed with the pre-war Lyrian Singers in Cardiff. He was considered at this time to be one of the finest singing teachers in Wales; Geraint Evans was one of his pupils. Amongst his musical arrangements were "Down Among The Dead Men", based on an old English melody for a male chorus, "The Lord's Prayer", and a Welsh piece "I Toriad Y Wawr" (The Break Of Dawn). During the early part of the war in the 1940s he was instrumental in providing Mai Jones, who was working for the BBC in Cardiff with a musical score, composed initially by a friend and fellow Lyrian singer Thomas Morgan. It was (the now famous Welsh Standard) "We'll Keep a Welcome". Later conducting the Lyrian singers in 1951 he achieved the Melody Maker song charts with the same song, narrated by Tom Jones.
His greatest success and legacy came with the founding of the Welsh National Opera Company. He became its first Conductor, General Manager and Musical Director. In November 1943, at a gathering of a small group of music lovers, at his home in Llandaff, he was instrumental in forming The Lyrian Grand Opera Company. A month later at its first general meeting the name was changed to The Welsh National Opera Company. It was formed from members of the old Cardiff Grand Opera Company, the BBC Welsh Singers and the Lyrian Singers. The company gave early performances in 1945 with concerts and operatic excerpts at various venues in Cardiff. |