Goossens, (Aynsley) Eugene (1893–1962)

English conductor and composer. As a composer he was prolific in most departments of music and progressive in technique. His works include two operas to libretti by Arnold Bennett: Judith (1929) and Don Juan de Mañara (1937), and much orchestral and chamber music. He was the grandson of Eugène Goossens (1845–1906) and son of Eugène Goossens (1867–1958), both conductors of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. His brother Leon was a leading oboist, and his sisters Marie and Sidonie both renowned as harpists.

After study at Bruges, Belgium, and Liverpool, England, and under Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music in London, he played the violin in the Queen's Hall Orchestra 1911–15. His first appearance as a conductor was in 1916, deputizing for Thomas Beecham (with whom he was closely associated for the next few years) in Stanford's The Critic (1916). After that he formed an orchestra of his own, giving early English performances of works by Stravinsky, and conducting the Russian Ballet. As a conductor he was afterwards associated with many famous orchestras in England and the USA, most notably the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted 1931–46. In 1947 he was appointed director of the New South Wales Conservatory in Sydney, Australia, and conductor of the symphony orchestra; he returned to England in 1956.

Works Stage operas Judith (1929) and Don Juan de Mañara (1937); ballet L'Ecole en crinoline.

Orchestral sinfonietta (1922), two symphonies (1940, 1944), Fantasy Concerto for piano and orchestra, oboe concerto (1927), violin concerto.

Choral Silence for chorus and orchestra (1922).

Chamber two string quartets (1915, 1940).