Howarth, Elgar (1935– )

English conductor, trumpeter, and composer. He played the trumpet in the Philip Jones brass ensemble and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 1963–68, and became director of the London Sinfonietta in 1973. He conducted the premieres of Harrison Birtwistle's Gawain at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1991, and the The Second Mrs Kong for Glyndebourne Touring Opera at Glyndebourne in 1994. He has composed and arranged works for brass band, including Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Howarth studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and was appointed director of the London Sinfonietta in 1973 and toured widely, often performing modern music. He conducted the 1978 Stockholm first performance of György Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre and in 1986 the London Coliseum first performance of Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus.