Roy Goodman
Encyclopedia
Roy Goodman is a conductor
and violin
ist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music
. He became internationally famous as the 12-year-old boy treble soloist in the March 1963 recording of Allegri's Miserere
with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
under David Willcocks.
Goodman studied at the Royal College of Music
, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists
and Associate of the Royal College of Music. He has also served as Director of Music at the University of Kent
in Canterbury
and Director of Early Music
Studies at the Royal Academy of Music
.
As a violinist and concertmaster, he played from 1975 to 1985 under the baton of Ivan Fischer
, John Eliot Gardiner
, Charles Mackerras
, Roger Norrington
, and Simon Rattle
(at Glyndebourne Opera). He was viola d'amore
soloist with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner
and the Philharmonia Orchestra
under Vladimir Ashkenazy
. He has also played as concertmaster or soloist (on baroque violin
) with Frans Brüggen
, Philippe Herreweghe
, Christopher Hogwood
, Rene Jacobs, Trevor Pinnock
and Ton Koopman
.
As a conductor, Roy Goodman is known for his special expertise with early music
, which he often directed from the violin, harpsichord
or organ. He was conductor of Reading Youth Orchestra
(1974-1976), founder and director of the Brandenburg Consort (1975-2001), co-director of the Parley of Instruments (1979-1986), Principal Conductor of the Hanover Band
(1986-1994) and Music Director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra
(1989-2004). He is Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra
and Director Emeritus of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. He has served as Guest Conductor with over 100 other orchestras, ensembles, and opera companies. In 2006 he made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
in Amsterdam
and returned to San Francisco Opera
to conduct a new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
.
As a conductor Goodman has made over 120 recordings ranging from Monteverdi to Copland
. Goodman has also directed more than forty world premières of contemporary music.
Roy Goodman made his New Zealand debut in 2007, performing a series of Baroque concerts. Following the enthusiastic response of audiences and critics, he accepted the position of Principal Guest Conductor for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
in New Zealand. His term began in 2009.
Roy Goodman has been called "probably the most active independent freelance conductor in Europe." He has three children and four grandchildren.
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
. He became internationally famous as the 12-year-old boy treble soloist in the March 1963 recording of Allegri's Miserere
Miserere (Allegri)
Miserere, full name "Miserere mei, Deus" by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri, is a setting of Psalm 51 composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for use in the Sistine Chapel during matins, as part of the exclusive Tenebrae service on Wednesday and Friday of Holy...
with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great British choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge in 1441, to provide daily singing in his Chapel, which remains the main task of the...
under David Willcocks.
Goodman studied at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists
Royal College of Organists
The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world...
and Associate of the Royal College of Music. He has also served as Director of Music at the University of Kent
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
in Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
and Director of Early Music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
Studies at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
.
As a violinist and concertmaster, he played from 1975 to 1985 under the baton of Ivan Fischer
Iván Fischer
Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a Jewish musical family, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest...
, John Eliot Gardiner
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
, Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
, and Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
(at Glyndebourne Opera). He was viola d'amore
Viola d'amore
The viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
soloist with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner
Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner is an English conductor and violinist.-Biography:Marriner was born in Lincoln and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. He played the violin in the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Martin String Quartet and London Symphony Orchestra, playing with the...
and the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
under Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
. He has also played as concertmaster or soloist (on baroque violin
Baroque violin
A baroque violin is, in common usage, any violin whose neck, fingerboard, bridge, and tailpiece are of the type used during the baroque period. Such an instrument may be an original built during the baroque and never changed to modern form; or a modern replica built as a baroque violin; or an...
) with Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen
Frans Brüggen is a well-known Dutch conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist.-Biography:Brüggen studied recorder and flute at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum. He also studied musicology at the University of Amsterdam. In 1955, at the age of 21, he was appointed professor at the Royal...
, Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Herreweghe is a Flemish conductor.In his school years at the University of Ghent, Herreweghe combined studies in medical science and psychiatry with a musical education at the Ghent Conservatory, where Marcel Gazelle, Yehudi Menuhin's accompanist, was his piano teacher...
, Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
, Rene Jacobs, Trevor Pinnock
Trevor Pinnock
Trevor David Pinnock CBE is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical...
and Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman
Ton Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
.
As a conductor, Roy Goodman is known for his special expertise with early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
, which he often directed from the violin, harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
or organ. He was conductor of Reading Youth Orchestra
Reading Youth Orchestra
Reading Youth Orchestra is one of the oldest youth orchestras in Britain. It was formed in 1944 with just eleven members and has a history rooted strongly in the British Youth and Community Service. It is open to all young people in the general area of Reading in the English county of Berkshire;...
(1974-1976), founder and director of the Brandenburg Consort (1975-2001), co-director of the Parley of Instruments (1979-1986), Principal Conductor of the Hanover Band
Hanover Band
The Hanover Band founded by Caroline Brown in 1980 is a British period-instrument orchestra.The group's website explains the name thus: 'Hanover' signifies the Hanoverian period 1714-1830 and 'Band' is the 18th century term for orchestra....
(1986-1994) and Music Director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra
European Union Baroque Orchestra
The European Union Baroque Orchestra is a training initiative of the European Union which allows young performers of baroque music from all over the EU to gain orchestral experience as part of their career development from conservatoire study into a professional career...
(1989-2004). He is Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
and Director Emeritus of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. He has served as Guest Conductor with over 100 other orchestras, ensembles, and opera companies. In 2006 he made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and returned to San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
to conduct a new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
.
As a conductor Goodman has made over 120 recordings ranging from Monteverdi to Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
. Goodman has also directed more than forty world premières of contemporary music.
Roy Goodman made his New Zealand debut in 2007, performing a series of Baroque concerts. Following the enthusiastic response of audiences and critics, he accepted the position of Principal Guest Conductor for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra was established in the early 1980s and has become one of New Zealand's major performing organisations. The instigation of its Composer-in-Residence programme in 1990 has made the orchestra an important force in the promotion of New Zealand composed...
in New Zealand. His term began in 2009.
Roy Goodman has been called "probably the most active independent freelance conductor in Europe." He has three children and four grandchildren.
External links
- http://www.roygoodman.com/ - personal website
- Hyperion Records: Roy Goodman
- Bach-Cantatas.com: Roy Goodman