Ryan Wigglesworth (born 31 August 1979, Yorkshire) is a British

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, conductor and pianist.

Biography

Wigglesworth read music at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where he held the position of

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 ...

at New College, and continued his music studies at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

. From 2007 to 2009, he was a lecturer at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. From 2013 to 2015, he was a composing fellow with The

Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Sev ...

. Wigglesworth was principal guest conductor of

The Hallé The Hallé is an English symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It supports a choir, youth choir, youth training choir, children's choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasiona ...

from 2015 to 2018. He and his wife, the soprano Sophie Bevan, founded The Davey Consort in 2017. Wigglesworth founded the Knussen Chamber Orchestra in 2019. Wigglesworth served as composer-in-residence with English National Opera (ENO). For ENO, he composed his opera ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some criti ...

'', based on Shakespeare's

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

. The opera received its premiere on 27 February 2017. In 2018, he was composer in residence of the Grafenegg Festival in Lower Austria. He has appeared as the soloist of his own Piano Concerto (2019). In 2019, he became the Sir Richard Rodney Bennett Professor at the Royal Academy of Music. Several commercial recordings of Wigglesworth's music are available on such labels as NMC. Wigglesworth has made other commercial recordings for other labels. In February 2022, the

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

announced the appointment of Wiggleworth as its next chief conductor, effective September 2022. This appointment marks Wigglesworth's first chief conductorship. Wigglesworth and Bevan have two children.

Selected compositions

* ''Sternenfall'' (2007) * ''The Genesis of Secrecy'' (2009) * ''Augenlieder'' (2009) * ''A First Book of Inventions'' (2010) * Violin Concerto (2012) * ''Locke's Theatre'' (2013) * ''A Wreath'' (text by George Herbert; 2014) * ''Études-Tableaux'' (2015) * ''The Winter's Tale'' (opera, 2015-2016) * ''Clocks from a Winter's Tale'' (2017) * ''Till Dawning'' (texts by George Herbert; 2018)

References

External links

Groves Artists agency page on Ryan Wigglesworth

Schott Music page on Ryan Wigglesworth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wigglesworth, Ryan 1979 births English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English classical composers 21st-century classical composers Living people Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge English male classical composers 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians