Michael Bowles

Michael Andrew Bowles [in Gaelic: Micheál Ó Baoighill] (30 November 1909 – 6 April 1998) was an Irish conductor and composer, who was also active in New Zealand, the USA, and England.

Bowles was born in Riverstown, County Sligo, and grew up in Boyle, County Roscommon. In 1924, he moved to Dublin with his family, where he studied the piano at the Read School and joined the Department of Education in 1927 to embark on a career as a civil servant. In 1932, he was persuaded by Fritz Brase to join the Army School of Music as a conducting pupil. After obtaining a BMus at University College Dublin he was seconded to the Army No. 2 Band in Cork and joined Radio Éireann in 1941 as Acting Director of Music, succeeding Vincent O'Brien. When, in 1942, this position became full-time, he resigned from the Army. From 1941 to 1948 he was the main conductor of the Radio Éireann Orchestra, but disagreements surrounding the orchestra's expansion in 1948 caused his resignation. On 6 June 1945, he married Kathleen FitzGerald, daughter of Irish politician Martin FitzGerald.

Bowles had suggested an enlargement of the orchestra to 65 players, with an eventual figure of 80 in mind, as early as 1946. The Irish government considered it essential to recruit musicians from outside Ireland, and "Bowles was directed to travel throughout Europe and audition suitable candidates", which he did in Paris, Lisbon, Rome, Berne, and Brussels in the summer of 1947. However, during his absence the then Director of Broadcasting at Radio Éireann decided to give conducting contracts to Jean Martinon and hold on to Bowles as second option only. "Michael Bowles, acting rather too hastily, offered his own resignation which was accepted."

Bowles then emigrated to New Zealand, where he became the first permanent conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (1950–3) at Wellington, then called the "National Orchestra of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service", having been warmly recommended by the English conductor Sir Adrian Boult, who was an uncle-in-law. He conducted when the orchestra was filmed for the first time in 1952. Among his innovations was the introduction of a public subscription system. Bowles became a visiting professor at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (1954–8) and subsequently the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis (1958–63). Climate-related ill-health caused him to leave the United States, and he went to England to teach conducting at the Birmingham School of Music (1963–70).

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