„Ryan Wigglesworth led the excellent Britten Sinfonia on aural flights of fancy.“
Financial Times OnlineBiography
Still only in his early thirties, Ryan Wigglesworth has rapidly established himself as one of the foremost composer-conductors of his generation. He was appointed Composer in Residence at English National Opera in 2012 and in Spring 2013 was named Cleveland Orchestra’s Daniel R Lewis Young Composer Fellow. The Orchestra gives the US premiere of his orchestral work Sternenfall in Spring 2014 conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
As a conductor Ryan Wigglesworth is equally at home and much sought after in repertoire ranging from the baroque to the present day (he has conducted over forty premieres), and his own compositions have garnered widespread critical acclaim. His orchestral song cycle Augenlieder was awarded the vocal prize at the 2010 British Composer Awards. His recording with the Hallé Orchestra of Harrison Birtwistle works won awards from Gramophone and BBC Music magazines, it was chosen as disc of the year by Time Out New York, and was included in The Sunday Times Best Discs of 2011. His performance with the LPO of Julian Anderson’s The Discovery of Heaven won the Classical category at the 2013 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.
Recent engagements have included ENO (Detlev Glanert’s Caligula and Carmen), his Royal Opera House debut (Harrison Birtwistle’s The Minotaur), concerts with the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Deutsche Symphonie Berlin, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and appearances at both the BBC Proms and Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He opened the 2012 Aldeburgh Festival with performances of Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop! in celebration of the composer’s 60th birthday. He returns to conduct the opening weekend of the 2013 festival with the Britten Sinfonia.
2013/14 looks forward to Cosi for ENO, appearances both as conductor and pianist with Bergen Philharmonic and Northern Sinfonia and further performances with Residentie Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the latter on tour to Cologne’s Philharmonie with Ian Bostridge. His programme on his return to the Hallé Orchestra sees the UK premiere of his violin concerto.
Wigglesworth’s compositions include three works for the BBCSO: Sternenfall (2007); The Genesis of Secrecy (2009), commissioned for the BBC Proms and premiered by Sir Andrew Davis; and Augenlieder, first performed by soprano Claire Booth in 2009. A First Book of Inventions (2010) was premiered by the RLPO, and his Violin Concerto, (for Gordan Nikolic and the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra) was premiered inAmsterdam in 2012. Future commissions include a song cycle for tenor Mark Padmore, an orchestral work for the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth for the Aldeburgh Foundation and an orchestral work for Cleveland Orchestra.
Yorkshire-born, Wigglesworth studied atNewCollege,Oxfordand GuildhallSchoolof Music & Drama. He was a Lecturer atCambridgeUniversityand a Fellow of Corpus Christi College (2007-09).
SEASON 2012/2013
Quotes
“And if Jones’s stagings take the breath away, so does the perfection of their meld with the music, as performed by the Britten Sinfonia under Ryan Wigglesworth’s incisive direction.”
independent.co.uk, Michael Church, 11.06.12“Ryan Wigglesworth, led the excellent Britten Sinfonia on aural flights of fancy.”
ft.com, Richard, Fairman, 11.06.12“Both pieces are superbly conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, and so thrillingly played by the Britten Sinfonia, that one can easily forgive the moments, in Wild Things especially, where the text becomes impossible to decipher.”
guardian.co.uk, Andrew Clements, 10.06.12“Ryan Wigglesworth marshals his orchestral and choral forces impressively to conjure the beauty and power of this tremendous score.”
Evening Standard, Barry Millington, 28.05.12“It is a gripping journey in three movements, conducted superbly by Ryan Wigglesworth.”
The Guardian, Andrew Clements, 26.03.12“What we heard was a brilliant response to a commission, conducted with authority and great clarity by Ryan Wigglesworth.”
The Times, Hilary Finch, 26.03.12“And it would be equally hard, after Saturday’s first performance by the London Philharmonic under Ryan Wigglesworth, to imagine music more seductive in atmosphere or finely etched in orchestration.”
Financial Times, Andrew Clarke, 26.03.12
