Talk:John Whitfield (conductor)

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Untitled[edit]

I did my best to clean this article up and 'wikify' it. I can't find references for some of the material - I suspect that Whitfield or someone who knew him wrote this page - but from what I did find - recordings with him as conductor, a listing for him on a site with brief c.v.-like pages on British musicians, etc. - the rest seems fairly believable. I tried to neutralize the POV a bit. The bit about him proofreading "Return of the King" didn't seem to fit with the rest and didn't quite make sense - proof-read what, the music? The script? - so I took that out completely.

As to whether he is a major enough figure to deserve an article, that is another matter. He has been a minor figure on the British classical music scene, a player and the conductor of a fairly well known ensemble. Enough? Someone else can decide. I don't actually know much about the British classical music scene. --Brianyoumans 00:46, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think the article is improved enoug h to keep, even if it may have started out as a vanity article. It reads a little awkwardly and some more dates would be useful. We know he joined the Israeli orchestra in 1978; founded Endymion in 1980, may have left before 2003. Who is he playing for now? What are the dates of his awards? Some additional clarification like that would be an improvement. Thatcher131 03:06, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree it could probably use more of a rewrite - I rewrote bits and moved things around, but I didn't rewrite it from scratch. I think I've done about what I can to find dates and such; someone with knowledge of the British classical music scene may be able to find more on the web, or have "dead tree" sources that they can cite. For instance, his online page suggests he might be associated with the Milton Keynes City Orchestra, but he isn't mentioned anywhere on their site. On the other hand, they don't list all the members of the orchestra on the site, so he could be one. And some fan of the Endymion Ensemble might well know when he left. I think he doesn't work with them anymore because none of their recent concert posters (on their site) list him as conductor, and he isn't listed among the current members. In fact, it is slightly curious that there is NO mention of him whatsoever on the site - I wonder if he parted with them on poor terms? It is only slightly curious, though - there isn't much history on the site, and the website clearly only dates back to about 2003.--Brianyoumans 10:41, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deletion discussion[edit]

This article survived a nomination for deletion, following a cleanup. The discussion can be found here. Flower party■ 01:06, 9 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Some small disambiguations[edit]

The deletion discussion included a reference to a cellist named John Whitfield. I ran across references to this person while working on improving the article; I believe it is a different person, probably an American. John Whitfield the conductor is a bassoon player. There also seems to be another Endymion Ensemble, based in the Washington, DC area in the US Their website. - --Brianyoumans 08:53, 9 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]