Iwan Edwards

Starting with the 12th season I Medici di McGill Orchestra is under the musical leadership of  Iwan Edwards.
Iwan Edwards has specialized in choral conducting since he came to Canada from his native Wales in 1965. He taught at Lachine High School from 1965 to 1979, at the Fine Arts Core Education (FACE) school in Montreal from 1979 to 1990, and was appointed Assistant Professor at McGill University's Faculty of Music in 1991. He is committed to the ongoing development of his ensembles and to choral music in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. He has gained an international reputation for his outstanding work and is much sought after as a conductor, adjudicator, workshop coach and teacher.

Over the past four decades, Maestro Edwards has founded and directed the 110-voice St. Lawrence choir, the F.A.C.E. Treble Choir, Concerto Della Donna, Choeur des enfants de Montréal, and the Canadian Chamber Choir in addition to working with the Ottawa Choral Society, the Lanaudière International Festival Chorus, and the Vancouver Bach Choir. These collaborations have led to performances with prominent orchestras in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, and Vancouver and, internationally, the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra in the Czech Republic. Renowned conductors with whom Maestro Edwards has worked include Charles Dutoit, Franz-Paul Decker, Zubin Mehta, Bramwell Tovey, Trevor Pinnock, Helmut Rilling, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Roger Norrington and Kent Nagano.

Until his retirement from McGill University Faculty of Music in 2001, lwan Edwards used to conduct Cappella McGill, the McGill Chamber Singers, the Faculty University Chorus and the McGill Symphony Orchestra Chorus. He was also responsible for students pursuing graduate studies in Choral Conducting. He was Chairman of the Performance Department of the Faculty of Music from 1992 to 1996.

After 21 years at the helm, Maestro Edwards retired as director of the Chorus of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 2007. During his tenure, recordings involving the chorus won a Grammy Award (“Les Troyens” – Berlioz) and two Juno Awards (Berlioz’s “Les Troyens” and “La Damnation de Faust”). Over the course of his long relationship with the MSO, Maestro Edwards has conducted numerous MSO performances including Handel’s “Messiah” at Notre Dame Basilica.

In 1995, Iwan Edwards was named a Member of the Order of Canada for his outstanding achievements in the arts.