Kenneth Alwyn

Conductor Kenneth Alwyn had distinguished careers in traditional orchestral repertory, film music, and musical theater. He appeared for 30 years on the BBC 2 radio network's Friday Night is Music Night program. Alwyn served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. In 1959, he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture that used gunshots to simulate the effect of cannon fire; the recording has been perenially popular. Alwyn served as conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in the 1960s, leading the first Japanese performances of Holst's The Planets. In 1969, he became conductor of the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra. He was especially visible as a conductor of musical theater productions in London and made numerous original cast recordings. Alwyn also championed the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Alwyn died at his home in West Chiltington, Sussex, in late 2020.