Faber Music extends its warmest wishes to John Woolrich on his 60th birthday and is delighted to honour the occasion with the publication of Capriccio, for violin and strings, one of Woolrich’s best-loved recent works.
The company is not alone in marking the composer’s birthday; many performing groups are planning their own celebrations. Notably, St John’s Smith Square, London is holding a day of Woolrich events on 6th April which will include performances by the London Sinfonietta, Manson Ensemble, pianists William Howard, Catherine Edwards and Tom Poster, as well as the premiere of a new work for the Orchestra of St John’s and conductor John Lubbock.
Other new works have been commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival (to be premiered by the Nash Ensemble), Dartington International Summer School, and violin/piano duo Alexandra Wood and Huw Watkins.
However the celebrations aren’t limited to new commissions alone. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and contrabassoonist Margaret Cookhorn will revive the composer’s fantastically inventive contrabassoon concerto, Falling Down, on 14 May. Later that month the London Contemporary Orchestra pays a visit to Woolrich’s French locale of Mirepoix for a concert of some of his seminal string works: Ulysses Awakes, Capriccio and an arrangement of Wolf’s Italian Songs. In June the Schubert Ensemble will perform the piano quartet Sestina and Woolrich’s Bach Chorale arrangements, and a few weeks later Birmingham Contemporary Music Group bring In the Mirrors of Asleep to the Wigmore Hall. The birthday year will be rounded off in November by the Britten Sinfonia in a programme which features, especially, the London premiere of his Concerto for Violin.
Clearly it’s a busy year for the composer, but it’s not too late to add your own celebrations. If you are interested in finding out more about any of John Woolrich’s works, please contact promotion@fabermusic.com