Ted Downes was one of those stalwart British conductors who never hit the heights, but who could always be relied upon to produce diligently prepared, musicianly performances — particularly of new or neglected music. He was far more revered and respected within the orchestra and opera world than his fairly low public profile would suggest.

Particularly important was his association with the Royal Opera House, which stretched over more than half a century. Verdi was Downes’s chief passion. He not only conducted it superbly, he also did a huge amount of backroom work, helping to prepare new editions of neglected Verdi operas that revealed their qualities afresh.

He was never, however, so much of a “company man” as to be scared of speaking his mind. He was one of the few conductors of his generation to make a stand against what he regarded as self-serving or sensationalist opera productions, and famously refused to conduct a Covent Garden production of Nabucco in the mid-1990s that he regarded as a disgrace to his beloved theatre.

He also launched a blistering attack on the Royal Opera for reneging on its plan to stage all of Verdi’s operas in the seasons leading up to the composer’s centenary, and then for marking the 100th anniversary itself with what Downes memorably described as a “comic-strip caper” through selected highlights of his music.

In recent years his failing eyesight greatly reduced his ability to do his job as he would have wished, and he gradually withdrew from the opera and concert scene. For a man of Downes’s passion, integrity and energy, that must have been hard to bear.

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