A MUSIC promoter who started his career by staging an Andr Previn-conducted London Symphony Orchestra concert one night and the little-known rock band Pink Floyd the next, has turned his hand to writing.
Since May 1970 and that auspicious beginning, John Burrows has produced more than 2,000 concerts and 30 major music festivals throughout the UK and Europe.
His yearning to bring music to the people earned him an OBE in 1991 and he is an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Music.
He was the creator and director of Capital Radio Music Festival from 1981 to 1995 and worked with musicians from all genres.
They include Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Queen, Simply Red, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Santanta, Ray Charles and BB King.
He has also worked with most of the major English symphony orchestras and some of the great conductors and soloists like Leonard Berstein, Sir Charles Mackerras, Aaron Copland, Carl Davis, Luciano Pavarotti, Joshua Bell, Yehudi Menuhin, Lesley Garrett and Nigel Kennedy.
And it is his love of classical music that is behind his book, the Eyewitness Companion to Classical Music, which he launched in his adopted home town of Lymington on Saturday May 7.
Mr Burrows, 65, who has lived in Captains Row, Lymington, for the past 10 years, spent two-and-a-half years researching and compiling the book, which is produced in association with Classic FM.
It has been designed as a one-stop reference work for students of music and for the Classic FM listener who wants to find out a little more.
With more than 500 illustrations the book sets out to make music theory easy to understand, it covers the history, styles and forms of the performers and composers who have shaped classical music. There are also informed commentaries on 600 pieces of music and in depth studies of 22 key compositions.
"I love music. All my life I've loved it. It's been my life," said Mr Burrows, who hopes his work will encourage others to love music too.
DK's Eyewitness Companion to Classical Music is £16.99.
First published: May 11
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