Edward Downes Edward Downes Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera. He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his long working relationship with the BBC Philharmonic and for working with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra. Within the field of opera, he was particularly known as a conductor of Verdi. He and his wife, Lady (Joan) Downes, committed assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland on 10 July 2009, an event that received significant media
Geoff Downes such acts as Mike Oldfield, Thompson Twins and GTR. As a songwriter, he has written for Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA. He is also credited as a co-writer on "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe" album (made up of former members of Yes in 1989); he is credited due to Howe re-using some musical ideas from Asia. In recent years, Downes has teamed up with Wetton in a separate project under the name Icon. They have released three studio albums: "Icon" (2005), "Icon II: Rubicon" (2006), and "Icon 3" (2009) and live album from their 2005 tour. In 2006, Downes reunited with the