Charles Groves

Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE ( born March 10, 1915 in London, † June 20, 1992 in London) was a British conductor.

Groves was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and then studied piano and organ at the Royal College of Music. In 1938 he accepted a position as choir director at the BBC, 1943 Conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra and was from 1944 to 1951 conductor of the BBC Northern Orchestra. In 1951 he became conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 1961 he moved to the Welsh National Opera and was from 1963 the Music Director of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, from 1967 combined with the activity as Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. 1978 to 1979 he headed the English National Opera, after which he worked as a guest conductor in and outside the UK.

Groves advocated particularly for the work of British composers, but also took art German, French and Russian composers in the program (of which numerous recordings by witness ). He was the first British conductor who conducted a complete cycle of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. He was a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1973 a Knight Bachelor in 1968.