Ryan Wigglesworth

“He composes; he conducts; he’s a pianist; he teaches. Thirty-year-old Ryan Wigglesworth’s talents sprout in so many directions…and his new song cycle Augenlieder glittered with skill. Wigglesworth writes music stamped with iridescent hues, instrumental finesse, shapely ideas and a lyrical impulse that stays within reach even when textures turn prickly. The various moods in this cycle’s four poems are all imaginatively reflected…As for his conducting skills, we could measure that best with Stravinsky’s Symphony in C. His sprightly beat locked every shifting rhythm into place, while never stifling the music’s fun. A similar punch and sharp focus marked Beethoven’s overture Namensfeier, a jolly rarity tossed off without score or baton.”    The Times

Although just thirty, Ryan Wigglesworth has rapidly established himself as one of the foremost composer-conductors of his generation. Equally at home and much sought after in a wide repertoire from the baroque to the present day (he has conducted over forty premieres), his own compositions have likewise received consistent critical acclaim. Recent engagements have included the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the 2009 BBC Proms and during their main Barbican season in a programme of Beethoven and Stravinsky, the premiere performances of Birtwistle’s latest opera The Corridor with the London Sinfonietta at the Aldeburgh Festival and Southbank Centre, Henze’s Voices at the Barbican, and a return to the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

2010/11 sees engagements with the Britten Sinfonia, with whom he makes a return to the BBC Proms, Eugene Onegin at the St Endellion Festival, the premiere of Alexander Goehr’s opera Promised End with English Touring Opera at the Royal Opera House, recordings of Birtwistle with the Halle Orchestra, and his debut concerts with both the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic – the latter to include performances of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 with Wigglesworth as pianist/director, as well as the world premiere of his own A First Book of Inventions.

Wigglesworth’s recent compositions include a triptych of works for the BBCSO: Sternenfall (2007); The Genesis of Secrecy, commissioned for the 2009 BBC Proms and premiered by Sir Andrew Davis; and the orchestral song cycle Augenlieder, first performed by soprano Claire Booth under the composer’s direction at the Barbican last November. Future projects include a work for tenor Mark Padmore and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra’s Scharoun Ensemble, and a piece for the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra as part of his residency with both the NCO and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2011/12 season.

Born in Yorkshire, he studied at Oxford University and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Between 2007-9 he was a Lecturer at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. His compositions are published by Schott Music.

SEASON 2010/2011