Orlando Gough
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh and Ashley Page of The Royal Ballet. He is artistic director of The Shout, which he founded in 1998 with Richard Chew. The choir won the Time Out Award for Classical Artist of the Year in 2001. He released one album titled Message from the Border that was released on Catalyst/BMG Records. His 2001 commission from Fretwork
Fretwork
Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly used are wood and metal. Fretwork is used to adorn...
, called 'Birds on Fire' was recorded by them for Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent music record label founded in 1958 by Bernard Coutaz in Arles . The Latin phrase means "world harmony"....
under the same title and was released in 2008. He composed the music for the closing ceremony of the 2008 European Capital of Culture
European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
, Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
. Members of the choir include Carol Grimes
Carol Grimes
Carol Grimes is a smooth jazz and world music singer.Grimes came to prominence in 1969 as a member of Delivery, associated with the Canterbury Scene. During the 1970s she performed regularly on the London blues circuit with her band The London Boogie Band...
, Melanie Pappenheim
Melanie Pappenheim
Melanie Pappenheim is an English soprano singer and composer, notable for her vocal work with various British cross-disciplinary composers, with avant-garde theatre companies and on soundtracks .-Contemporary music:Pappenheim is a frequent collaborator with contemporary composer-performers Simon...
and Manickam Yogeswaran
Manickam Yogeswaran
Maanikkam Yogeswaran is a Sri Lankan Tamil musician and exponent of Carnatic music.Manickam Yogeswaran, also known as "Yoga" was born 1959 in Meesalai, northern Sri Lanka. He studied at the Jaffna Hindu College before moving to London....
. In 2010 the Turner Contemporary commissioned Gough to compose a work for its opening ceremonies: "The Red Volcano" - for community choir and orchestra, had its World Premiere in April 2011 conducted by Anthony Castro.
Gough first came to prominence on the British music scene in the early 1980s as a co-founder of minimalist music ensemble The Lost Jockey. It was initially set up to perform the works of 'systems music' composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. However, before long it switched to compositions by the group's own composers, of whom Gough was one of the most active. In live concerts (as well as on a BBC Radio broadcast) he performed on piano, keyboards and tuned percussion. Around 1984 the ever-growing (and increasingly unmanageable) ensemble slimmed down to a septet called Man Jumping
Man Jumping
Famously described by Brian Eno as 'the most important band in the world', Man Jumping were formed in England in the mid-1980s from the members of Lost Jockey who were variously described as playing 'systems music' or 'systems funk'.The band formed Man...
, again featuring Gough - who contributed several compositions to their two critically acclaimed albums.
Gough's music for opera includes The Mathematics of a Kiss (a 1989 short TV opera composed with Man Jumping cohort John Lunn
John Lunn
John Lunn is a British composer, known for his soundtrack work for television. He was formerly a member of "systems music" band Man Jumping....
), Critical Mass (2007, Almeida Opera), and The Finnish Prisoner
The Finnish Prisoner
The Finnish Prisoner is an opera by Orlando Gough, first performed in 2007. Stephen Plaice wrote the English-language libretto based on the true story of Finnish prisoners of war incarcerated in England during the Crimean War.-Background:...
(premiered in 2007 by a cast including members of the Finnish National Opera
Finnish National Opera
The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki is the leading opera company in Finland. Its home base is the Opera House on Töölönlahti bay in Töölö which opened in 1993, and is state-owned through Senate Properties...
). In 2010 Gough was commissioned to write a short opera for the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
's ROH2 OperaShots initiative. The result was A Ring a lamp a thing with a libretto by Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...
.
Gough, a mathematics graduate, authored the 1987 book The Complete Advanced Level Mathematics. He is married to knitwear designer, Joanna Osborne, co-author of several knitting books, and has two sons, Daniel and Milo. His older brother is the architect Piers Gough
Piers Gough
Piers Gough , is an architect in the practice CZWG. His younger brothers are the composer Orlando Gough and Jamie Gough, the University of Sheffield's senior lecturer in Town and Regional Planning....
whilst his other older brother, Adam Jamie Gough, is an academic at the University of Sheffield
University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...
.