What is Edward Downes?
'''Sir Edward Downes''', (born [[Birmingham]], [[England]], 17 June 1924; died [[Switzerland]], 10 July 2009) was an [[English people|English]] [[Conducting|conductor]]. He was famous for conducting [[opera]], but also conducted orchestral concerts. He worked a lot with the orchestra of the [[Royal Opera House]] as well as [[Opera Australia]]. When he was old he was almost totally [[blind]] and [[deaf]] and his wife was dying of [[cancer]], so they both decided that they wanted to die together. They went to [[Switzerland]] where they were allowed to commit [[assisted suicide]]. ==Early years== Downes was born in [[Birmingham]], [[England]]. His father worked in a [[bank]]. He left school when he was 14 and got a simple job in a gas store where he earned 16s 10d (16 shillings and 10 pence, which is 84p in modern British money) a week. He had been playing the [[piano]] and [[violin]] since he was five. When he was 16 he got a [[scholarship]] to the [[University of Birmingham]] where he studied [[English literature]] and [[music]], and began playing the [[cor anglais]]. He then got a scholarship to study conducting at the [[University of Aberdeen]]. ==Marriage== In the 1960s, he married Joan, a dancer with the [[Royal Ballet]]. She later became a [[choreographer]] and [[television producer]]. They had two children: a son, Caractacus (born December 1967), who became a [[musician]] and [[recording engineer]], and a daughter, Boudicca, who became a [[video]] producer. ==Conducting career == In 1952, Downes started his work in the [[Royal Opera House]], [[Covent Garden]] where he was [[assistant]] to [[Rafael Kubelík]]. He worked for the ROH for 17 years, becoming Associate Music Director in 1991. From 1970 he was Music Director of [[Opera Australia|Australian Opera]]. He conducted the first performance in the new [[Sydney Opera House]] in 1973 conducting [[Prokofiev]]’s opera ''[[War and Peace (opera)|War and Peace]]''. He was Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Orchestra and the [[BBC Philharm