Colin Welford
Colin Welford is an English composer for stage and screen, conductor, orchestrator and music director based in the United States.
He holds a Master's degree in Music from Oxford University, England, and has pursued graduate studies at The Royal College of Music, London, University of Miami and at Columbia College Chicago.
In 1991 he was invited by John de Lancie (oboist), former principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, to join the faculty at the newly established New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida. There he led the Orchestral Department and taught orchestration for three years. During this time, Welford also taught at the University of Florida and Florida International University where he was a professor of orchestration and composition.
After touring the US as associate conductor of the 1st National Tours of The Will Rogers Follies, and The Who's Tommy, he was hired by Pete Townshend of the legendary UK rock band The Who as Music Director/Conductor for the Broadway-originated musical The Who's Tommy in the UK and Europe.
As a freelance Opera and Ballet conductor, he has performed extensively across Europe and the United States. He also served as conductor at English National Ballet where he led premieres of Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev), Giselle, Alice in Wonderland and Les Sylphides, amongst others.
He was Music Director for the original 1997 stage production of The Fix at the Donmar Warehouse, London.
Between 2000 and 2005, Welford served as Music Supervisor and Assistant Music Producer of Disney's The Lion King on Broadway and for eleven subsequent international production. During this period, he conducted original cast albums in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, all of which achieved platinum sales status. For his work on the Los Angeles production of The Lion King Welford was nominated for an NAACP award for Outstanding Service to People of Color.
He has arranged extensively for orchestra and choral ensembles, including The New York Pops orchestra, among others, and has scored numerous independent film and animations. He is the orchestrator, conductor and/or arranger for several award-winning solo vocal and orchestral albums.
He was music director of the award-winning Chicago production of the Broadway musical Wicked .
In 2009, Welford conducted the award-winning musical Billy Elliot on Broadway. he later served as conductor and music director for new productions of Billy Elliot in Chicago and Toronto, The Netherlands, Korea, Japan and several regional productions across North America.