Ralph Woodward (born 17 November 1971) is an English classical conductor, arranger and organist. His main focus is on conducting choirs.

Early life and education

Ralph Woodward was born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

, England. He attended Durham Chorister School from 1979 to 1985, and then went to

Durham School Durham School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (UK), public school tradition located in Durham, England, Durham, North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of th ...

, where he was a King's Scholar and a Music Scholar. He spent 1990–91 as Organ Scholar at

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

, before taking up an Organ Scholarship at

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

, where he studied for a BA and a BMus, specialising in the music of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

. While there he unearthed and published an early Evening Service by

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

, and commissioned the cantata ''Midwinter'' by

Will Todd Will Todd (b 14 January 1970) is an English musician and composer. He is a pianist, who performs regularly with others in his own works. Biography and work Todd was born in County Durham, attended Durham School and joined the choir of St Oswald' ...

Career

Since 1995, Woodward has been a freelance musician. While his work has taken him all over the world, the bulk of it has been in and around

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Since 1997, he has been Musical Director of the

Fairhaven Singers The Fairhaven Singers is a chamber choir based in Cambridge, UK, directed by Ralph Woodward. The choir is a mixed ensemble of about 48 amateur singers singing choral repertoire from the 15th century to the present. Among the major works it has per ...

, and has overseen their development into a leading chamber choir. From 2002 to 2010, he was Musical Director of the Britten–Pears Chamber Choir. Until 2016 he was the Musical Director of NORVIS, an early music summer school in Durham, and of Full Score, a semi-professional chamber choir. He has worked with a number of top orchestras, including the

London Mozart Players London Mozart Players (LMP) are a British chamber orchestra founded in 1949. LMP are the longest-established chamber orchestra in the United Kingdom. Since 1989, the orchestra has been Resident Orchestra at Fairfield Halls, Croydon. History Begin ...

, The Parley of Instruments,

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 ...

and

City of London Sinfonia City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera Holland Park since 2004 and holds a residency at St Paul's Cathedral. CLS also performs regularly across the city of London i ...

. He is also active as an editor for

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, with particular involvement in the William Walton Edition. He has made many arrangements for choirs: his version of the theme for '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' was featured on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''PM'' programme, and he has arranged and conducted the choral music for two albums by

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

. He has conducted the premieres of works by many leading composers, including

Jonathan Dove Jonathan Dove (born 18 July 1959) is an English composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera (now Birm ...

Bob Chilcott Robert Chilcott (born 9 April 1955) is a British choir, choral composer, conducting, conductor, and singing, singer, based in Oxfordshire, England. He was a member of the King's Singers from 1985 to 1997, singing tenor. He has been a composer ...

, Will Todd, Eriks Esenvalds,

Cecilia McDowall Cecilia McDowall (born 1951 in London, England) is a British composer, particularly known for her choral compositions. Life and career Born in London, McDowall attended Grey Coat Hospital School and read music at the University of Edinburgh, co ...

and

Ola Gjeilo Ola Gjeilo ( , ; born May 5, 1978) is a Norwegians, Norwegian composer and pianist in the United States. He writes choir, choral music, and has written for piano and concert band, wind symphony, publishing through Walton Music, Edition Peters, ...

. In January 2022, he became Interim Assistant Director of Music at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, conducting

King's Voices King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Foundation and role in college The choir was ...

Discography

* ''The Queens' Service'' (1994) * ''Vox Dicentis'' (1996) * ''Angelic Harmonies'' (1997) * ''Will Todd Choral Music'' (2002) * ''The Blue Skies That Sparkle'' (2007) * ''Will Todd Requiem'' (2009) * ''Full of Grace: Songs to the Virgin Mary'' (2011) * ''Into the Stars'' (2015)

References

External links

Official website

The Fairhaven Singers website

NORVIS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Ralph 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British male musicians 1971 births Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge British male conductors (music) English choral conductors Living people Musicians from Cambridge Musicians from County Durham