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James Wood (4)

James Wood (b. 1953) is a British conductor, composer, musicologist, and former percussionist who currently lives in Germany. He was [a=Nadia Boulanger]'s student in Paris in the early seventies and graduated from the [l=Cambridge University] in 1975. Wood also studied percussion and conducting at the [l=Royal Academy of Music] in London and took private lessons from [a=Nicholas Cole]. After serving as a conductor of the [a=Schola Cantorum of Oxford] from 1977 to 1981, James Wood founded the [a=New London Chamber Choir] and acted as its principal conductor until 2007. During the twenty-six years with NLCC, he premiered numerous little-known choral works from a wide range of composers, such as [a=Tona Scherchen], [a=Toru Takemitsu], [a=Harrison Birtwistle], [a=Lili Boulanger], [a=Ruth Crawford Seeger], [a=Luigi Dallapiccola], [a=Frank Denyer], [a=György Kurtág], [a=György Ligeti], [a=Almeida Prado], [a=Giacinto Scelsi], [a=Alfred Schnittke], [a=Claude Vivier], and [a=Walter Zimmermann]. Wood commissioned many original works from contemporary composers, including [i]Forms of Emptiness[/i], [i]Ashes Dance Back[/i], and [i]The Summer Cloud's Awakening[/i] by [a=Jonathan Harvey], [a=Alejandro Viñao]'s [i]Epitafios[/i], [i]Calacas Imaginarias[/i] by [a=Javier Alvarez], [a=Iannis Xenakis]' [i]Knephas[/i], [a=Luca Francesconi]'s [i]Let me Bleed[/i], [a=Simon Bainbridge]'s [i]Eicha[/i], [a=Roberto Sierra]'s [i]Cantos Populares[/i] and [i]Stramm Gedichte[/i] by [a=David Sawer]. He also wrote a few pieces for the choir: [i]Incantamenta[/i] for 24 solo voices, [i]Phainomena[/i] for 18 solo voices, 17 instruments, and electronics, and a large-scale church opera [i]Hildegard[/i] for soloists, chorus, ensemble, and electronics. As a conductor, Wood also performed with several European instrumental and vocal groups, including [a=Ensemble L'Itinéraire], [a=Ensemble Intercontemporain], [a=MusikFabrik], [a=Champ D'Action], [a=Groot Omroepkoor], [a=Nederlands Kamerkoor], [a=Swedish Radio Choir], [a=Collegium Vocale], [a=WDR Rundfunkchor Köln], [a=Rundfunkchor Berlin], [a=MDR Rundfunkchor], and [a=RIAS-Kammerchor]. In 2002, James worked closely with [a=Karlheinz Stockhausen] on the world premiere of [i]Engel-Prozessionen[/i], given by the Netherlands Radio Choir (conducted by Wood) at [l=Concertgebouw, Amsterdam]. Other notable performances include [a=Luigi Nono]'s [i]Caminantes Ayacucho[/i] by the same choir and [a=Radio Filharmonisch Orkest] at the [l=Holland Festival] (2008), the world's first premiere of [a=Theo Verbey]'s completion of Stravinsky's [i]Les Noces[/i] (1919 version) by MusikFabrik, RIAS Chamber Choir and pianolist [a=Rex Lawson] at the [l=Berliner Philharmonie] (2013), and the German premiere of Wood's [i]Tongues of Fire[/i] for large chorus and percussion quartet by MDR Leipzig Radio Choir in November 2014. Throughout his career, Wood appeared as a percussionist with numerous contemporary ensembles, including [a=Lontano (2)], [a=Matrix Ensemble] (directed by [a=Alan Hacker]), [a=Endymion Ensemble] and [a=London Sinfonietta]. In 1982, Friedrich Hommel, a newly appointed director of Darmstädter Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, invited James to succeed [a=Christoph Caskel] as a professor of percussion; Wood worked at Darmstadt until 1994. He composed a broad range of solo and chamber percussion works, including [i]Choroi kai Thaliai[/i] (1982), [i]Ho shang Yao[/i] (1983) and [i]Rogosanti[/i] (1986), which James performed live on tour with [a=Sara Stowe] (soprano) and [a=John Whiting] (sound projection). In the eighties, James Wood started experimenting with microtonality. For [i]Ho shang Yao[/i] (Songs by the River), he devised a simple prototype of quarter-tone extensions for marimba and glockenspiel. Wood moved in the same direction with a [i]Spirit Festival with Lamentations[/i], [i]Stoicheia[/i], and [i]Venancio Mbande talking with the trees[/i]. Eventually, he became convinced that for a further development of this genre, commercial instrument builders must design and implement microtonal fixed-pitch instruments on a large scale. A Dutch company [url=http://www.adams-music.com]Adams Musical Instruments[/url] later produced quarter-tone marimba extensions developed by the composer, available on custom order. Wood also continued writing microtonal music for conventional instruments, including BBC commissioned [i]Oreion[/i] (1989) for large orchestra, premiered by [a=BBC Symphony Orchestra] under the composer's baton. [a=Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra] (conducted by Wood) performed 'Oreion' again at the ISCM Festival '91 in Zürich. In the early nineties, James Wood founded a [b]Centre for Microtonal Music[/b] in London. He conceived it as a research facility and training program for young musicians, focused both on practical aspects of microtonality and historical implications of the technique. In collaboration with [l=The Guildhall School Of Music & Drama] and Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), Wood organized a regular weekend of microtonal music [i]In Tune?[/i] at the [l=Barbican Centre] from 1990 and 1992. At the same time, he also founded and directed [a=Critical Band] ensemble, which recorded a few albums and actively participated in the [i]In Tune?[/i] events and other concerts. Both the Center and the Band were dispersed in the late-nineties due to a lack of funding. Increasingly interested in electronic music as a perfect medium to explore microtonality and new sounds, Wood returned to Paris and undertook a major project at [url=https://www.discogs.com/label/21638]IRCAM[/url]. Together with [a=Carl Faia], he wrote [i]Mountain Language[/i] for alphorn, MIDI-cowbells, and electronics in 1997–98. Some of his notable works involving electronics are [i]Séance[/i] (1996), [i]Jodo[/i] (1999), and [i]Autumn Voices[/i] (2001). In 2007, the composer moved to Germany. Wood began the reconstruction of two missing voices of [a=Carlo Gesualdo]'s [i][r=4307077][/i] in 2008. The project took three years and was recorded by [a=Vocalconsort Berlin] and released by Harmonia Mundi in February of 2013. The CD received an ECHO Klassik Prize as a "choir recording of the year."