Ronald Corp
Encyclopedia
Ronald Corp is a composer, conductor, and Church of England
priest
. He is founder and Artistic Director of the New London Orchestra
and the New London Children's Choir
. Corp is Musical Director of the London Chorus
, a position he took up in 1994, and is also Musical Director of the Highgate Choral Society.
Corp was born and grew up in Wells
, Somerset
. He studied music at Oxford University.
Ronald Corp founded the New London Orchestra
in 1988 which launched his conducting career. In the years following, Corp’s engagements as a conductor have included concerts and recordings with the BBC Concert Orchestra
, the Ulster Orchestra
, the BBC Scottish Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
and Scottish Chamber Orchestra
, as well as appearing at the BBC Proms.
Through his role as conductor and Artistic Director, Corp programmes and aims to bring to life repertoire written in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries which is rarely heard in concert. Together with the New London Orchestra
, Corp's reputation in championing neglected music has resulted in 20 recordings with Hyperion Records
which feature composers such as Milhaud
and a series of Light Music
Classics, four of them of British, and one each of American Light Music Classics and European Light Music Classics. One of the most recent of these releases is a CD of pieces for string orchestra, written by the Polish female composer Grażyna Bacewicz
. His introductions from the stage are a key part of his mission to make music more accessible.
The New London Children’s Choir was launched by Ronald Corp in 1991 with the aim of introducing children to the challenges and fun of singing and performing all types of music.is one of the busiest and most successful children’s ensembles in the country. The choir has commissioned more than 40 new pieces and has premiered numerous other works by composers including its patrons Louis Andriessen and Michael Nyman. It has performed frequently at the Proms, made a number of film soundtrack and TV recordings, including the soundtrack to Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace and been engaged for concerts and recordings with all the major London orchestras and opera companies. The choir and its members have appeared regularly in major London concert halls working with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra
, and sing onstage at the English National Opera
.
Through his musical association with choruses and singers, particularly the Highgate Choral Society and the London Chorus, Corp has written a large amount of material for choirs, both accompanied and unaccompanied. Most notably, Ronald Corp’s first major choral work And All the Trumpets Sounded was premiered in 1989 by Highgate Choral Society, who commissioned it. His cantata Laudamus (1994) was premiered at St John's, Smith Square by the London Choral Society (now the London Chorus
) to great critical acclaim. In 2003 BBC Radio 3 commissioned a major work for the BBC Singers
- a setting of Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach.
Following his work with youth choruses and the formation of the New London Children's Choir, Corp has also established himself as a composer for young voices. In 1998, on the strength of this reputation, Corp was commissioned to write for the Farnham Youth Choir, who were winners of their section of the Sainsbury Choir of the Year. This commission resulted in the composition of Four Elizabethan Lyrics. Other works for children’s choir include Cornucopia (OUP), a cycle of songs with orchestra (1997), and its successor Kaleidoscope (2002). His Christmas opera, Wenceslas, was premiered in 1982, having another performance in 2008 again by the New London Children's Choir
.
Orchestral works include Guernsey Postcards, commissioned by the Guernsey Camerata, a Concerto Grosso and the Symphony No.1. Corp's orchestrations of Erik Satie
's Gnossiennes are featured in the film Chocolat of 2000. Other large-scale compositions include the Piano Concerto No.1 (1997) which has received three performances by pianists Julian Evans and Leon McCawley
and was described by one critic as:
Corp's String Quartet No.1 "The Bustard" was premiered at the Wigmore Hall
by the Maggini Quartet
in 2008. His song-cycle, The Music of Francis Thompson, received its world première at Benslow Music Trust
in January, 2010.. In July 2011, his song-cycle, The Music of Whitman had its première at the Tardebigge English Song Festival in Worcestershire, performed by Mark Stone
(baritone) and Stephen Barlow
(piano); his most recent song-cycle, The Music of Browning, was first performed in October, 2011, as part of the Little Venice Music Festival with Robert Presley (baritone) and Andrew Robinson (piano).
On Saturday 9 July, 2011, 7.30pm, Corp celebrated his 60th birthday year at the Royal Festival Hall in London with a performance of And All the Trumpets Sounded and the World Première of The Wayfarer (In homage to Mahler) for 16 solo singers and orchestra, a setting of two of Mahler's own poems from his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
and of his early poem, 'Im Lenz'. Ronald Corp conducted the New London Orchestra, and the combined forces of Highgate Choral Society, the London Chorus and the New London Children's Choir were deployed in the rest of the concert. A pre-concert talk took place with Corp in conversation with Richard Morrison.
Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 1, Guernsey Postcards (orchestral triptych). Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Ronald Corp, conductor, Leon McCawley, piano. Recorded 2009, released 2010. DUTTON EPOCH CDLX 7233
Dhammapada
for a choir of eight soloists and pre-recorded temple bells. Apsara (chamber choir), Ronald Corp, director. Recorded 2010, released January 2011.
STONE RECORDS
5060192780055
The Songs of Ronald Corp (Song-cycles: The Music of Housman, The Music of Whitman and Flower of Cities; Give to my Eyes, Lord (Colin Coppen); Break, break, break (Tennyson); The Owl and the Pussycat (Lear); Sleep (John Fletcher); Toward the Unknown Region (Whitman); The Bath (Harry Graham); and song arrangements from Cornucopia.) Mark Stone
, baritone, Simon Lepper
, piano. Recorded and released 2010. STONE RECORDS 5060192780031
String Quartet No. 1 'The Bustard', Country Matters (song-cycle) for tenor and string trio, String Quartet No. 2. Maggini Quartet, Mark Wilde, tenor. Recorded 2010, released March 2011. NAXOS 8.570578
Forever Child and Other Choral Music (Forever Child; Verbum Patris; Give to my Eyes, Lord; 'May the Lord Bless You and Keep You' (from Adonai Echad); Dover Beach (Arnold); 'Weep You no more, Sad Fountains' (from Cornucopia); Two Partsongs ('Heraclitus' and 'I Strove with None'); Missa San Marco; Four Elizabethan Lyrics; Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun (Shakespeare); Lute-Book Lullaby (Sweet was the Song); Requiem (R. L. Stephenson). Voces Cantabiles, Ronald Corp, conductor. Recorded 2005, released 2006. DUTTON EPOCH CDLX 7171
Other of the compositions of Ronald Corp on CD include A Christmas Mass (sung by Chantage on the disc Hark! Chantage at Christmas on EMI) and his Five Flower Songs and other children’s choir works (on Pigs Could Fly, performed by the New London Children's Choir
on Naxos).
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
. He is founder and Artistic Director of the New London Orchestra
New London Orchestra
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a...
and the New London Children's Choir
New London Children's Choir
The New London Children's Choir is a children's choir which rehearses at Highgate Primary School in North London, giving singing opportunities to members aged seven to eighteen. Members live in London and surrounding areas. It was founded in 1991 by Artistic Director Ronald Corp...
. Corp is Musical Director of the London Chorus
London Chorus
The London Chorus is an amateur choir, under the musical direction of Ronald Corp. It was founded in 1903 by Arthur Fagge as The London Choral Society. Its first concert was a performance of Sullivan's The Golden Legend in October 1903...
, a position he took up in 1994, and is also Musical Director of the Highgate Choral Society.
Corp was born and grew up in Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. He studied music at Oxford University.
New London Orchestra
See also New London OrchestraNew London Orchestra
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a...
Ronald Corp founded the New London Orchestra
New London Orchestra
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a...
in 1988 which launched his conducting career. In the years following, Corp’s engagements as a conductor have included concerts and recordings with the BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC Concert Orchestra
The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
, the Ulster Orchestra
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Belfast, the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall...
, the BBC Scottish Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
and Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra is Scotland's national chamber orchestra, based in Edinburgh. One of Scotland’s five National Performing Arts Companies, the SCO performs throughout Scotland, including annual tours of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. The SCO appears...
, as well as appearing at the BBC Proms.
Through his role as conductor and Artistic Director, Corp programmes and aims to bring to life repertoire written in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries which is rarely heard in concert. Together with the New London Orchestra
New London Orchestra
The New London Orchestra, based in London, was founded by Ronald Corp in 1988, to perform rarely heard 20th century works. The Orchestra and Corp pioneered the music of Martinů, now a familiar name with concert-goers, and have helped re-establish the popularity of ‘British Light Music' through a...
, Corp's reputation in championing neglected music has resulted in 20 recordings with Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
which feature composers such as Milhaud
Milhaud
Milhaud is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.-Population:-References:*...
and a series of Light Music
Light music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
Classics, four of them of British, and one each of American Light Music Classics and European Light Music Classics. One of the most recent of these releases is a CD of pieces for string orchestra, written by the Polish female composer Grażyna Bacewicz
Grazyna Bacewicz
Grażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.- Life :Bacewicz was born in Łódź...
. His introductions from the stage are a key part of his mission to make music more accessible.
New London Children’s Choir
See also New London Children's ChoirNew London Children's Choir
The New London Children's Choir is a children's choir which rehearses at Highgate Primary School in North London, giving singing opportunities to members aged seven to eighteen. Members live in London and surrounding areas. It was founded in 1991 by Artistic Director Ronald Corp...
The New London Children’s Choir was launched by Ronald Corp in 1991 with the aim of introducing children to the challenges and fun of singing and performing all types of music.is one of the busiest and most successful children’s ensembles in the country. The choir has commissioned more than 40 new pieces and has premiered numerous other works by composers including its patrons Louis Andriessen and Michael Nyman. It has performed frequently at the Proms, made a number of film soundtrack and TV recordings, including the soundtrack to Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace and been engaged for concerts and recordings with all the major London orchestras and opera companies. The choir and its members have appeared regularly in major London concert halls working with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, and sing onstage at the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
.
Composer
Ronald Corp began writing music at a very early age. Learning the piano gave him a means of hearing and notating the pieces. He wrote throughout his teens and his undergraduate days at Oxford.Through his musical association with choruses and singers, particularly the Highgate Choral Society and the London Chorus, Corp has written a large amount of material for choirs, both accompanied and unaccompanied. Most notably, Ronald Corp’s first major choral work And All the Trumpets Sounded was premiered in 1989 by Highgate Choral Society, who commissioned it. His cantata Laudamus (1994) was premiered at St John's, Smith Square by the London Choral Society (now the London Chorus
London Chorus
The London Chorus is an amateur choir, under the musical direction of Ronald Corp. It was founded in 1903 by Arthur Fagge as The London Choral Society. Its first concert was a performance of Sullivan's The Golden Legend in October 1903...
) to great critical acclaim. In 2003 BBC Radio 3 commissioned a major work for the BBC Singers
BBC Singers
The BBC Singers are the professional chamber choir of the BBC. As one of six BBC Performing Groups, the 24-voiced choir has been in existence for more than 80 years. The BBC Singers have commissioned and premiered works by the leading composers of the past century, including Benjamin Britten, Sir...
- a setting of Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach.
Following his work with youth choruses and the formation of the New London Children's Choir, Corp has also established himself as a composer for young voices. In 1998, on the strength of this reputation, Corp was commissioned to write for the Farnham Youth Choir, who were winners of their section of the Sainsbury Choir of the Year. This commission resulted in the composition of Four Elizabethan Lyrics. Other works for children’s choir include Cornucopia (OUP), a cycle of songs with orchestra (1997), and its successor Kaleidoscope (2002). His Christmas opera, Wenceslas, was premiered in 1982, having another performance in 2008 again by the New London Children's Choir
New London Children's Choir
The New London Children's Choir is a children's choir which rehearses at Highgate Primary School in North London, giving singing opportunities to members aged seven to eighteen. Members live in London and surrounding areas. It was founded in 1991 by Artistic Director Ronald Corp...
.
Orchestral works include Guernsey Postcards, commissioned by the Guernsey Camerata, a Concerto Grosso and the Symphony No.1. Corp's orchestrations of Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
's Gnossiennes are featured in the film Chocolat of 2000. Other large-scale compositions include the Piano Concerto No.1 (1997) which has received three performances by pianists Julian Evans and Leon McCawley
Leon McCawley
Leon McCawley is a British classical pianist.He studied with Heather Slade-Lipkin at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, and with Eleanor Sokoloff at The Curtis Institute of Music in the United States, and latterly pianist Nina Milkina was a source of inspiration.He won the first prize in the...
and was described by one critic as:
"... possibly the most winningly successful British Piano Concerto of the last forty years or so. It is wholly exceptionally, very well written in true virtuoso pianistic style."
Review of the Piano Concerto from Musical Opinion
Corp's String Quartet No.1 "The Bustard" was premiered at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
by the Maggini Quartet
Maggini Quartet
The Maggini Quartet is a British string quartet. Its members are Susanne Stanzeleit , David Angel , Martin Outram and Michal Kaznowski ....
in 2008. His song-cycle, The Music of Francis Thompson, received its world première at Benslow Music Trust
Benslow Music Trust
Benslow Music Trust is a charitable trust established to promote music education. The trust is based in the Benslow area of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England, and primarily operates as an adult education college....
in January, 2010.. In July 2011, his song-cycle, The Music of Whitman had its première at the Tardebigge English Song Festival in Worcestershire, performed by Mark Stone
Mark Stone (opera singer)
- Biography :Born in London 12 June 1969, he studied at Wilson's School, Wallington before going up to King's College, Cambridge to read Mathematics. After graduating in 1990 he worked as a Chartered Accountant and an investment banker before studying singing at the Guildhall School of Music and...
(baritone) and Stephen Barlow
Stephen Barlow
Stephen Barlow is a British conductor, principally of opera. From 2012 to 2014 he will be the Artistic Director of the Buxton Festival....
(piano); his most recent song-cycle, The Music of Browning, was first performed in October, 2011, as part of the Little Venice Music Festival with Robert Presley (baritone) and Andrew Robinson (piano).
On Saturday 9 July, 2011, 7.30pm, Corp celebrated his 60th birthday year at the Royal Festival Hall in London with a performance of And All the Trumpets Sounded and the World Première of The Wayfarer (In homage to Mahler) for 16 solo singers and orchestra, a setting of two of Mahler's own poems from his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen is Gustav Mahler's first song cycle. While he had previously written other lieder, they were grouped by source of text or time of composition as opposed to common theme...
and of his early poem, 'Im Lenz'. Ronald Corp conducted the New London Orchestra, and the combined forces of Highgate Choral Society, the London Chorus and the New London Children's Choir were deployed in the rest of the concert. A pre-concert talk took place with Corp in conversation with Richard Morrison.
Recorded Works
Recordings of music by Ronald Corp include:Symphony No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 1, Guernsey Postcards (orchestral triptych). Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Ronald Corp, conductor, Leon McCawley, piano. Recorded 2009, released 2010. DUTTON EPOCH CDLX 7233
Dhammapada
Dhammapada
The Dhammapada is a versified Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is one of the best-known texts from the Theravada canon....
for a choir of eight soloists and pre-recorded temple bells. Apsara (chamber choir), Ronald Corp, director. Recorded 2010, released January 2011.
STONE RECORDS
Stone Records
Stone Records is a British, independent, classical record label, founded in 2008 by opera singer Mark Stone. It started by producing recordings of English song but has since widened its repertoire to include instrumental, choral and orchestral works....
5060192780055
The Songs of Ronald Corp (Song-cycles: The Music of Housman, The Music of Whitman and Flower of Cities; Give to my Eyes, Lord (Colin Coppen); Break, break, break (Tennyson); The Owl and the Pussycat (Lear); Sleep (John Fletcher); Toward the Unknown Region (Whitman); The Bath (Harry Graham); and song arrangements from Cornucopia.) Mark Stone
Mark Stone (opera singer)
- Biography :Born in London 12 June 1969, he studied at Wilson's School, Wallington before going up to King's College, Cambridge to read Mathematics. After graduating in 1990 he worked as a Chartered Accountant and an investment banker before studying singing at the Guildhall School of Music and...
, baritone, Simon Lepper
Simon Lepper
- Biography :Born in Canterbury, Lepper read music at King's College, Cambridge and studied piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music....
, piano. Recorded and released 2010. STONE RECORDS 5060192780031
String Quartet No. 1 'The Bustard', Country Matters (song-cycle) for tenor and string trio, String Quartet No. 2. Maggini Quartet, Mark Wilde, tenor. Recorded 2010, released March 2011. NAXOS 8.570578
Forever Child and Other Choral Music (Forever Child; Verbum Patris; Give to my Eyes, Lord; 'May the Lord Bless You and Keep You' (from Adonai Echad); Dover Beach (Arnold); 'Weep You no more, Sad Fountains' (from Cornucopia); Two Partsongs ('Heraclitus' and 'I Strove with None'); Missa San Marco; Four Elizabethan Lyrics; Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun (Shakespeare); Lute-Book Lullaby (Sweet was the Song); Requiem (R. L. Stephenson). Voces Cantabiles, Ronald Corp, conductor. Recorded 2005, released 2006. DUTTON EPOCH CDLX 7171
Other of the compositions of Ronald Corp on CD include A Christmas Mass (sung by Chantage on the disc Hark! Chantage at Christmas on EMI) and his Five Flower Songs and other children’s choir works (on Pigs Could Fly, performed by the New London Children's Choir
New London Children's Choir
The New London Children's Choir is a children's choir which rehearses at Highgate Primary School in North London, giving singing opportunities to members aged seven to eighteen. Members live in London and surrounding areas. It was founded in 1991 by Artistic Director Ronald Corp...
on Naxos).
Works
The music of Ronald Corp is published by Boosey and Hawkes (BH), Chester Music (C), Colla Voce (CV), Faber Music (F), Novello (N), Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Society of Church Music (RSCM), Stainer and Bell (SB), Trinity Guildhall (TG) and the Ronald Corp website (RC). Where no publisher is given, please refer to the Ronald Corp website which is also undertaking a project to publish the other listed works.External links
- Ronald Corp official website
- Ronald Corp on Stone Records
- Ronald Corp on Hyperion Records
- Bacewicz CD on Hyperion Records
- http://markstone.info/content/view/219/85/Ronald Corp's setting of The owl and the pussycat, performed by Mark StoneMark Stone (opera singer)- Biography :Born in London 12 June 1969, he studied at Wilson's School, Wallington before going up to King's College, Cambridge to read Mathematics. After graduating in 1990 he worked as a Chartered Accountant and an investment banker before studying singing at the Guildhall School of Music and...
and Simon LepperSimon Lepper- Biography :Born in Canterbury, Lepper read music at King's College, Cambridge and studied piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music....
]