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Official programme Biography (400 words - from January 2010)
Roy Goodman is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand, the English Chamber Orchestra, and Conductor of the Bachkoor Holland accompanied by the Royal Concertgebouw Kamerorkest. From 2010 he will also be Artistic Partner with the Västerås Sinfonietta in Sweden. He has worked as guest conductor with over 120 orchestras and opera companies worldwide - from Carnegie Hall, New York to the Albert Hall Proms, London, and from the Alte Oper Franfurt to the Sydney Opera House [please visit: www.roygoodman.com].
Goodman is well known for his work as director and founder of the Brandenburg Consort (1975-2001), as co-director/founder of The Parley of Instruments (1978-1986), co-founder of the London Handel Orchestra (in 1981), Principal Conductor of the Hanover Band (1986-1994), Music Director for fifteen years of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (1989-2004), Principal Conductor of the Händel Festspiele at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe (1990-1998), the first Principal Conductor of Umeå Symphony Orchestra & Northern Opera Sweden (1995-2001), Music Director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in Winnipeg (1999-2005) and as the first Principal Conductor of Holland Symfonia & Dutch National Ballet (2003-2006).
Born in January 1951, Roy Goodman achieved international fame with King’s College Choir as the boy soloist in Allegri’s Miserere (Decca 1963). Already in 1970 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and he completed his studies with a violin performer's ARCM and a music teacher's diploma. In 1979 Goodman was a founder member of Ton Koopman's Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, joined Trevor Pinnock's English Concert, and later he became the first concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
During the 1980's he directed for CD with the Hanover Band the first ever performances on historic instruments of the complete symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Weber, as well as 14 symphonies by Mendelssohn and 60 symphonies by Haydn. He has directed over 120 CDs ranging from Monteverdi's sacred vocal music to Holst's Planets, in addition to conducting more than forty world premières of contemporary music. His CD recordings of the complete Schumann symphonies for BMG/RCA Red Seal (Abbey Road 1993) received unanimous and outstanding critical praise worldwide.
Guest appearances in recent years have included Stuttgart and San Francisco Operas, and SWR Stuttgart, WDR Cologne, Royal Concertgebouw, BBC Philharmonic and Hallé Orchestras. During 2010, in addition to his regular commitments in Holland, Sweden and New Zealand, Goodman will also conduct the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the major symphony orchestras in Graz, Hannover, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney - making his debut with three concerts in the Sydney Opera House in April 2010. Roy Goodman is an honorary Doctor of Music (University of Hull) and in 2005 was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music (London) presented by HRH The Prince of Wales. He has three children and four grandchildren, and he loves sailing!
ROY GOODMAN – extended information
Roy Goodman is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia New Zealand, the English Chamber Orchestra, and (since taking over in December 2003 from Charles de Wolff) Conductor of the Bachkoor Holland accompanied by the Royal Concertgebouw Kamerorkest. From 2010 he will also be Artistic Partner with the Västerås Sinfonietta in Sweden. He is well known for his work as director and founder of the Brandenburg Consort (1975-2001), as co-director/founder (with Peter Holman) of The Parley of Instruments (1978-1986), co-founder (with Denys Darlow) of the London Handel Orchestra (in 1981), Principal Conductor of the Hanover Band (1986-1994), Music Director for fifteen years of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (1989-2004), the first Principal Conductor of Umeå Symphony Orchestra & Northern Opera Sweden (1995-2001), Music Director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in Winnipeg (1999-2005) and as the first Principal Conductor of Holland Symfonia & Dutch National Ballet (2003-2006).
In 2006 Roy Goodman made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra, Amsterdam. Concerts to 2010 include the Hallé in Manchester,
RLPO in Liverpool, RSNO in Glasgow and Residentie Orchestra in the Hague,
WDR Cologne, NDR Hannover and SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestras,
Recreation Graz, Kristiansand, Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony, Tampere and Bergen
Philharmonics, Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, the English, Geneva, Manitoba,
Uppsala and Swedish Chamber Orchestras, Western Australia Symphony Orchestra in Perth and Auckland Philharmonia
in New Zealand.
In 1959 (at the age of eight) Goodman made his first recording for Decca
as boy-treble with the choir of Kings College Cambridge under Sir David
Willcocks, in Bach’s St. John Passion (with Peter Pears as Evangelist).
A few years later he achieved international fame as the soloist in Allegri’s
Miserere (now reissued, from 1963, on Decca Legends).
His mother’s godfather was Sir Malcolm Sargent whom he observed
conducting at the Proms in the mid 1960’s. When Goodman completed
his studies at the Royal College of Music in London in 1970 he was already
well qualified as a conductor, teacher, organist, violinist and musicologist.
He is an honorary Doctor of Music (University of Hull 2002), Fellow of
the Royal College of Organists (1970) and honorary Fellow of the Royal
College of Music (London 2005). From 1971 he spent six years as Head of
a comprehensive school music department and as Senior String Tutor for
Berkshire, and later held positions as Director of Music at the University
of Kent in Canterbury and as Director of Early Music Studies at the Royal
Academy of Music in London. From 1975-1986 much of Goodman’s career
was spent as a violinist - Goodman worked in Europe as a principal violinist,
playing as concertmaster or soloist with Ashkenazy, Brüggen, Ivan
Fischer, Gardiner, Herreweghe, Hickox, Hogwood, Rene Jacobs, King, Koopman,
Mackerras, Marriner, McCreesh, Norrington, Pinnock, Rattle and Schreier.
In 1979 Goodman was a founder member of Ton Koopman's Amsterdam Baroque
Orchestra, he joined Trevor Pinnock's English Concert, and became the
first concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. During
the 1980's he directed for CD with the Hanover Band the first ever performances
on historic instruments of the complete symphonies by Beethoven, Schubert,
Schumann and Weber, as well as 14 symphonies by Mendelssohn and 60 symphonies
by Haydn. In addition to conducting more than forty world premières
of contemporary music - many from the 21st century - he has directed over
120 CDs (several receiving rosettes in the Penguin CD Guide and
top listings for Corelli, Boyce, Handel & Haydn in Cassell's '1001
Classical Recordings You Must Hear Before You Die') ranging
from Monteverdi's sacred vocal music to Holst's Planets (played on historical
instruments), including further orchestral, vocal and choral works by
Mozart, Mendelssohn, Berwald, Copland, Barber, Walton and Jeths, and major
baroque works by Corelli, Purcell, Bach, Handel and Rameau. His CD recordings
of the complete Schumann symphonies for BMG/RCA Red Seal (Abbey Road 1993)
received unanimous and outstanding critical praise worldwide.
An invitation to conduct a televised Sibelius' birthday programme with
the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1993 was the catalyst for Roy
Goodman’s flourishing career as a serious international conductor.
Recent CD releases include recordings of Mozart’s basset clarinet
concerto with Nicholas Cox and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for ‘RLPO
Live’, a CD for Naxos of classical trumpet concertos including Haydn
and Hummel (with Niklas Eklund and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra), and
recordings of Walton, Grace Williams, Gareth Walters & Warlock with
the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra for CBC Records. Also further CDs for Naxos
(orchestral suites by Rameau with the European Union Baroque Orchestra),
CBC Records (Barber Knoxville, Summer of 1915, Copland Eight
Songs of Emily Dickinson and songs by Gershwin with Measha Brüggergosman)
and Northwest Classics (Willem Jeths' Cello Concerto Falsa/Ficta
with Frances-Marie Uitti and the Arnhem Philharmonic)
Goodman has worked as guest conductor with over 120 orchestras and opera companies
worldwide: from Carnegie Hall, New York to the Albert Hall Proms, London, and from the Alte Oper Franfurt to the Sydney Opera House. Opera work has included repertoire by Händel (Agrippina,
Alcina, Amadigi, Ezio, Giulio Cesare,
Orlando, Rodelinda, Scipione, Tamerlano),
Mozart (Bastien et Bastienne, Don Giovanni, La Clemenza
di Tito, Le nozze di Figaro) and Beethoven (Leonore)
in Lisbon, at the Britten-Pears School in Snape, Fondation Royaumont in
Paris and at Opera North in Leeds, Opera Northern Ireland in Belfast,
Flanders Opera in Gent and Antwerp, Staatstheater Mainz and as an annual
guest from 1990-1998 at the Badisches Staatstheater Händel Festspiele
in Karlsruhe. In 1999 he made his debut at the English National Opera
with Gluck’s Orpheus and at the Drottningholm Theatre Stockholm
with the world première of a new Swedish opera Trädgården
by Jonas Forssell. In 2001 he returned to Drottningholm for a new production
of Handel's Giulio Cesare, and in 2002 conducted Alcina
for Stuttgart, Budapest and San Francisco Opera. He returned to Stuttgart
in 2004 (Figaro) and also to San Francisco in 2005 & 2006
(Rodelinda & Figaro). Goodman has also worked extensively in Ballet, mainly at the Muziektheater Amsterdam with the Dutch National Ballet: his numerous performances there include Stravinsky's Agon, Tchaikovsky's Theme and Variations and Pas de deux, Gershwin's Who Cares?, Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales and La Valse, Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Don Giovanni (with new ballet music by Rob Zuidam), Dansen bij Koning Lodewijk (with music by Charpentier, Lully, Rameau, Rebel, Marais etc) and Balanchine Square Dance.
Some of Goodman’s more unusual engagements include making a documentary
film about Mozart’s Prague Symphony for Dutch television with members
of the Prague Chamber Orchestra; a 12 CD recording contract with BMG Classics/RCA
Victor after a concert cycle of the complete symphonies of Beethoven in
the Schleswig Holstein Festival and Missa Solemnis in the Alte Oper, Frankfurt;
conducting the world-premiere of Philip Glass' Concerto for Saxophone
Quartet with the Rascher Quartet and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
and a televised Sibelius 'birthday' programme with the Finnish Radio Symphony
Orchestra; an invitation by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble to conduct the
Symphony for Winds by Richard Strauss and Schönberg Chamber Symphony
1 for Dutch Radio; a prestigious live televised New Year’s Day concert
(1998) with the augmented Netherlands Wind Ensemble from the Concertgebouw
in Amsterdam; conducting concerts including Schumann Symphony 4 at the Carnegie Hall
in New York and Beethoven’s Symphony Eroica at the BBC Proms in
the Royal Albert Hall, London; an invitation in 2003 to direct a Mozart
Festival in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam; the creation of over forty world-première
commissions of contemporary music from Sweden, Iceland, America, Canada
& the Netherlands; being the first conductor to conduct the Huddersfield
Choral Society (and BBC Philharmonic) in a complete uncut Messiah from memory;
playing as soloist in Mozart's G major Violin Concerto at Chicago Symphony
Hall; deputising as organist for George Thalben-Ball at The Temple Church in the late 1960's and then playing the organ at the Royal Festival Hall, London for several
Christmas concerts; and playing light solo piano jazz on national radio from
the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Freiburg Concert
Hall. Roy Goodman has three children and four grandchildren, and he loves sailing!