Paul Goodwin (actor)

Paul Goodwin (born 2 September 1956) is an English conductor and former oboist.

Oboist

Goodwin was born in Warwick, England. He studied oboe with Janet Craxton. Following his graduation from the University of Nottingham with a degree in composition, he specialized in contemporary oboe techniques and the baroque oboe at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He later continued his studies in Vienna with Jurg Schäftlein.

Goodwin was recognized as one of the world's foremost early oboe specialists, playing all periods of music on historical oboes. He was the principal oboist of the English Concert and the London Classical Players and has made more than 20 solo and concerto records.

Conductor

In 1996, Goodwin gave up his oboe career to dedicate himself solely to conducting. He subsequently studied conducting in Helsinki with Jorma Panula, and took up posts with The Academy of Ancient Music (associate conductor), and the English Chamber Orchestra (principal guest conductor). Goodwin became one of Britain's most versatile conductors, renowned for his historically informed interpretations of baroque, classical and romantic music. He was also a great advocate of contemporary music.

He was the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival in California (2010–2021), Principal Guest Conductor of Capella Aquileia in Germany and Director of the Historical Performance Programme at th
Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia
in Madrid.

For 11 years, Goodwin was the Associate Conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music, touring extensively and making recordings of Heinrich Schütz' choral music, Mozart's singspiel ''Zaide,'' and two discs of music by Sir John Tavener that Goodwin commissioned for the AAM. Three of these CDs have been nominated for Grammy (US) and Gramophone Awards (UK). Subsequent AAM commissions were on pieces by David Bedford, John Woolrich and, Thea Musgrave.

Goodwin was one of the principal guest conductors with the Kammerorchester Basel, which he performed both on modern and period instruments on a wide range of repertoire from J. S. Bach to Mark Anthony Turnage. Goodwin was the Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra for six years, collaborating with artists such as Kiri Te Kanawa, Joshua Bell, Maria João Pires, Mstislav Rostropovich and Magdalena Kožená. Goodwin has also recorded CDs of Amy Beach and a highly acclaimed CD of Elgar's ''Nursery Suite'' for Harmonia Mundi, France.

Goodwin has a wide symphonic repertoire, conducting orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In the US he has conducted the Minnesota Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony and in Europe, the Belgian National Orchestra, Spanish National, Polish National, Taiwan National, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, NDR Bayerischer Rundfunk and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His repertoire spans from Purcell and Bach to Brahms and Schumann, from Ravel, Elgar and Stravinsky, to Messiaen, Takemitsu and Maxwell Davies.

Goodwin's successes have included Mozart's ''Cosi fan tutte'' at the Royal Danish Opera, Gluck's '' Iphigenie en Tauride'' at the Komische Oper Berlin, Britten's ''The Rape of Lucretia'' at the Teatro Real Madrid and Handel's ''Orlando'' at Opera Australia. Past highlights include Mozart's ''Nozze di Figaro'' and ''Il Re Pastore'' at Opera North, ''Idomeneo'' at the Graz Opera, ''The Magic Flute'' at the Aalto Theatre in Essen, Monteverdi's ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' in Athens, Handel's ''Orlando'' at the Flanders Opera and Haydn's ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' in Madrid. Goodwin is also known for his collaboration with Jonathan Miller on a ground-breaking staging of Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

On educational projects, Goodwin has worked with the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands the Spanish National Youth Orchestra, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, the New World Symphony in the USA, and with the orchestras of the Royal College of Music and Royal Academy of Music, and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Goodwin was for nine years conductor of the Queen Elisabeth Competition Brussels. He has recorded Prokofiev's ''Peter and the Wolf'' and Chappell's ''Paddington Bear'' with the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Goodwin was awarded the Handel Prize of the City of Halle (Saale) in 2007 in recognition of his extraordinary services to performances of works by George Frideric Handel.

Discography

As a conductor, Goodwin has recorded CDs of Handel's operas ''Lotario'' and Riccardo Primo, his oratorio ''Athalia'', discs of Schutz, Britten, Elgar, John Tavener, Richard Strauss, Mozart, J. S. Bach, Kozeluch and Amadeus Hartmann.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Paul
English conductors (music)
British male conductors (music)
English classical oboists
British male oboists
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Living people
Academics of the Royal College of Music
British performers of early music
Place of birth missing (living people)
1956 births
Handel Prize winners
21st-century British conductors (music)
21st-century British male musicians