|
Eric Wetherell
Eric David Wetherell (30 December 1925 – 31 January 2021) was a British composer, conductor, radio producer and author on musical subjects. Wetherell was born in Tynemouth and attended Carlisle Grammar School for Boys. As a teenager he acted as assistant organist to Dr F.W. Wadeley at Carlisle Cathedral. He studied at Queen's College Oxford where his teachers included Thomas Armstrong, Bernard Rose and Egon Wellesz, and afterwards at the Royal College of Music with Harold Darke (organ), Herbert Howells (composition) and Gordon Jacob (orchestration). Wetherell joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1949 as a French Horn player, spending the next decade playing in various orchestras under conductors such as Thomas Beecham, Adrian Boult, Serge Koussevitzky and others. In 1960 he joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as a répétiteur, then became Assistant Musical Director and conductor with Welsh National Opera in 1963. In the 1970s he served as musical director f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tynemouth
Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. The medieval Tynemouth Priory and Castle stand on a headland overlooking both the mouth of the river and the North Sea, with the town centre lying immediately west of the headland. Historically part of Northumberland until 1974, the town was a county borough which included the nearby town of North Shields. At the 2021 census the Tynemouth built-up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics (which also includes North Shields) had a population of 60,605. The population of Tynemouth itself at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census was 10,256. History The headland towering over the mouth of the River Tyne has been settled since the Iron Age. The Romans may have occupied it as a signal station, though it i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the company gave a single week's annual season in Cardiff, gradually extending its schedule to become an all-year-round operation, with its own salaried chorus and orchestra. It has been described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the finest operatic ensembles in Europe". For most of its existence the company lacked a permanent base in Cardiff, but in 2004 it moved into the new Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay. The company tours nationally and internationally, giving more than 120 performances annually, with a repertoire of eight operas each year, to a combined audience of more than 150,000 people. Its most frequent venues other than Cardiff are Llandudno in Wales and Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Plymouth, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Macintyre
Benedict Richard Pierce Macintyre (born 25 December 1963) is a British author, reviewer and columnist for ''The Times'' newspaper. His columns range from current affairs to historical controversies. He has written some 15 books, and received numerous awards for both fiction and non-fiction works. Early life Macintyre was born on 25 December 1963, in Oxford, the elder son of Angus Donald Macintyre (d. 1994), a fellow and tutor in Modern History at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Joanna, daughter of Sir Richard Musgrave Harvey, 2nd Baronet and a descendant of Berkeley Paget. His paternal grandmother was a descendant of James Netterville, 7th Viscount Netterville. Angus Macintyre had been elected principal of Hertford College, Oxford before his death in a car accident, author of the first scholarly work on the Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell, general editor of the Oxford Historical Monographs series from 1971 to 1979, editor of '' The English Historical Review'' from 1978 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 East of England. It is a flexible ensemble composed of chamber musicians in Europe. The players are freelance musicians who are employed on a project-by-project basis and the ensemble performs around 70 concerts per year and works with hundreds of people in the communities where the orchestra is resident. The orchestra is named after the composer Benjamin Britten, who lived in the East of England. It is a registered charity. Background The orchestra does not have a principal conductor but works with a range of international guest artists from across the musical spectrum as suited to each project. Recent seasons have included projects with Brad Mehldau, Thomas Adès, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, James MacMillan, Ian Bostridge, Joanna Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. The county is in the West of England combined authority area, which includes the Greater Bristol area (List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom) and nearby places such as Bath, Somerset, Bath. Bristol is the second largest city in Southern England, after the capital London. Iron Age hillforts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers River Frome, Bristol, Frome and Avon. Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historic counties of England, historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became a county corporate. From the 13th to the 18th centur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Sammons
Albert Edward Sammons CBE (23 February 188624 August 1957) was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation rests mainly on his association with British composers, especially Elgar. He made a number of recordings over 40 years, many of which have been re-issued on CD. Early life and education Albert Sammons was born in Fulham, the second eldest of four children. His father was a shoemaker and good amateur violinist. Sammons started to receive some lessons from his father around the age of seven. Apart from these lessons, he was virtually self-taught. His first professional engagement was in the band at the Earls Court Exhibition in 1898; the conductor was so impressed by the 12-year-old that he made him leader. He left school at this time and became a professional musician – partly to bring extra income to the household, as his father was a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patrick Hadley
Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (5 March 1899 – 17 December 1973) was a British composer. Biography Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. His mother, Edith Jane, was the daughter of the Revd Robert Foster, chaplain to the Royal Hibernian Military School in Dublin.Eric Wetherell.Hadley, Patrick (Arthur Sheldon), in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) Patrick attended St Ronan's School, St Ronan's Preparatory School (in Worthing, Sussex) and Winchester College (in Hampshire). However the First World War interrupted his education. He enlisted in the army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He managed to survive unscathed until the last weeks of the war, when he received an injury necessitating the below-knee amputation of his right leg. This profoundly damaged his confidence and also caused him to perhaps drink m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Cooke
Arnold Atkinson Cooke (4 November 1906 – 13 August 2005) was a British composer, a pupil of Paul Hindemith. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music, including five string quartets and many instrumental sonatas, much of which is only now becoming accessible through modern recordings. Cooke also composed two operas (still unperformed), six symphonies and several concertos.Biography by Eric Wetherell, British Music Societyextract at ''Musicweb International''/ref> Education Cooke was born at Gomersal, West Yorkshire, into a family of carpet manufacturers. As a child, Cooke learned to play the piano, and later the cello, and began composing by the age of 7 or 8. He was educated at Streete Preparatory School, Repton School and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking Part 1 of his Tripos in 1927, earning his B.A. He changed to read music with his composition teacher E. J. Dent. At Cambridge, Cooke continued to play the cello in the CUMS or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Big Band
The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band, previously run under the auspices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The band broadcasts exclusively on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long-running series '' Big Band Special''. It consists of professional musicians and is directed by a number of conductors. These include arranger and composer Barry Forgie, who has been the band's Musical Director since 1977, American jazz trombonist Jiggs Whigham, and guest musical directors. History The BBC Big Band's origins lie in the earliest days of the BBC when the BBC Dance Orchestra was formed in 1928 under the leadership of Jack Payne before Henry Hall took over in 1932. Benny Carter was hired as the arranger from 1935 to 1938. In the 1950s, the format and purpose of the Dance Orchestra was changed and modernised, and it became a big band with strings in the Billy May style, known as the BBC Showband, under the leadership of Cyr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulster Orchestra
The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including performances at the Belfast Festival, the BBC Proms, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The orchestra currently employs 63 full-time musicians and 17 administrative support staff. History The orchestra was founded in 1966 by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, with Maurice Miles as its first principal conductor, János Fürst as its first leader, and Donald Froud as its first general manager. Fürst later became the orchestra's assistant conductor. The orchestra replaced the semi-professional City of Belfast Symphony Orchestra, which was subsequently disbanded. From 1966 the Ulster Orchestra consisted of 37 players and existed in this for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Alwyn
Kenneth Alwyn Wetherell (28 July 1925 – 10 December 2020) was a British conductor, composer, and writer. Described by BBC Radio 3 as "one of the great British musical directors", Alwyn was known for his many recordings, including with the London Symphony Orchestra on Decca's first stereophonic recording of Tchaikovsky's ''1812 Overture''. He was also known for his long association with BBC Radio 2's orchestral live music programme '' Friday Night is Music Night'', appearing for thirty years as a conductor and presenter, and for his contribution to British musical theatre as a prolific musical director in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and married the actress Mary Law in 1960. His website and the first volume of his memoirs ''A Baton in the Ballet and Other Places'' were both published in 2015. The second volume ''Is Anyone Watching?'' was published in 2017. Early life, wartime service and education Alwyn was born Kenneth Alwyn Wether ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
