Ralph Woodward (born 17 November 1971) is an English classical conductor, arranger and organist. His main focus is on conducting choirs.

Early life and education

Ralph Woodward was born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, England. He attended Durham Chorister School from 1979 to 1985, and then went to

Durham School Durham School is an independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition located in Durham, North East England and was an all-boys institution until 1985, when girls were admitted to the sixth form. The school takes pupils a ...

, where he was a King's Scholar and a Music Scholar. He spent 1990–91 as Organ Scholar at

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

, before taking up an

Organ Scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...

ship at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he studied for a BA and a BMus, specialising in the music of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

. While there he unearthed and published an early Evening Service by

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

, and commissioned the cantata ''Midwinter'' by

Will Todd Will Todd (b 14 January 1970) is an English musician and composer. He is a pianist, who performs regularly with others in his own works. Biography and work Todd was born in County Durham, attended Durham School and joined the choir of St Oswald ...

Career

Since 1995, Woodward has been a freelance musician. While his work has taken him all over the world, the bulk of it has been in and around

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Since 1997, he has been Musical Director of the

Fairhaven Singers The Fairhaven Singers is a chamber choir based in Cambridge, UK, directed by Ralph Woodward. The choir is a mixed ensemble of about 48 amateur singers singing choral repertoire from the 15th century to the present. Among the major works it has perf ...

, and has overseen their development into a leading chamber choir. From 2002 to 2010, he was Musical Director of the Britten–Pears Chamber Choir. Until 2016 he was the Musical Director of NORVIS, an early music summer school in Durham, and of Full Score, a semi-professional chamber choir. He has worked with a number of top orchestras, including the

London Mozart Players London Mozart Players (LMP) are a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. LMP are the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. History B ...

, The Parley of Instruments,

Britten Sinfonia Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the ...

and

City of London Sinfonia City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS performs regularly across the city of London in venues from East London clubs to traditional Central London concert halls. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera ...

. He is also active as an editor for

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, with particular involvement in the William Walton Edition. He has made many arrangements for choirs: his version of the theme for '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' was featured on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''PM'' programme, and he has arranged and conducted the choral music for two albums by

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

. He has conducted the premieres of works by many leading composers, including

Jonathan Dove Jonathan Dove (born 18 July 1959) is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birmin ...

Bob Chilcott Robert "Bob" Chilcott (born 9 April 1955) is a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, based in Oxfordshire, England. He was a member of the King's Singers from 1985 to 1997, singing tenor. He has been a composer since 1997. Earl ...

, Will Todd, Eriks Esenvalds,

Cecilia McDowall Cecilia McDowall (born 1951 in London, England) is a British composer, particularly known for her choral compositions. Life and career McDowall read music at the University of Edinburgh, continuing her studies at Trinity College of Music, Lond ...

and

Ola Gjeilo Ola Gjeilo ( , ; born May 5, 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist, living in the United States.King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, conducting

King's Voices King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Foundation and Role in College The choir was ...

Discography

* ''The Queens' Service'' (1994) * ''Vox Dicentis'' (1996) * ''Angelic Harmonies'' (1997) * ''Will Todd Choral Music'' (2002) * ''The Blue Skies That Sparkle'' (2007) * ''Will Todd Requiem'' (2009) * ''Full of Grace: Songs to the Virgin Mary'' (2011) * ''Into the Stars'' (2015)

References

External links

Official website

The Fairhaven Singers website

NORVIS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Ralph English choral conductors British male conductors (music) Musicians from County Durham Musicians from Cambridge Living people 1971 births 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge