Bio
Kenneth Woods, conductor
Hailed by the Washington Post as an “up-and-coming conductor” and a “true star” of the podium, conductor, rock guitarist, author and cellistKenneth Woods has worked with many orchestras of international distinction including the National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Northern Sinfonia, Budapest Festival Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared on the stages of some of the world’s leading music festivals, including Aspen, Lucerne, Round Top and Scotia. His work on the concert platform and in the recording studio has led to numerous broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, and theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In 2010, Kenneth Woods was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Orchestra of the Swan, with whom he made his debut in the final concert of the Spring Sounds Festival. He will not only be active with the orchestra in concert, but in recordings as well, starting with an all-Mahler CD for Somm Records in November of 2010. As music director of the Oregon East Symphony from 2000-9, he transformed a tiny orchestra in a remote, rural area into possibly the most talked-about orchestra in the Pacific Northwest, winning universal praise for their nationally celebrated “Redneck Mahler” cycle, progressive programming and their innovative youth programs. Other permanent affiliations include the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales (with whom he is often heard on Radio 3), and the Rose City Chamber Orchestra.
Kenneth Woods made his commercial recording debut as a conductor in sessions for Avie Records with the Northern Sinfonia. The disc of world-premiere recordings of music by Austrian émigré composer Hans Gál has been hailed by The Strad, Classical Music, Classical CD Reviews and Musical Pointers for its “committed performances”, “first class” and “quick witted” playing and Gramophone underlined Woods’ “highly polished account, with orchestral
playing throughout most assured.” In June 2010, he was invited by the Stradivari Trust to conduct their 25th anniversary concert, featuring a string orchestra of many of the world’s leading soloists and chamber musicians including Natalie Clein, Lawrence Power, Guy Johnston, Matthew Trussler and the Endellion and Fitzwilliam String Quartets.His blog, A View from the Podium, is one of the 25 most popular classical music blogs in the world.
Woods’ unique gifts were widely acknowledged early on by some of today’s leading conductors. In the spring of 2001, Kenneth Woods was selected by Leonard Slatkin as one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute
at the Kennedy Center. At the completion of the Institute, he led the National Symphony Orchestra in a debut concert, drawing great critical acclaim. In the spring of 2000, David Zinman selected Kenneth Woods from a pool of over 200 applicants to be a fellow in the inaugural class of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Toronto Symphony Music Director Peter Oundjian has praised Woods as “a conductor with true vision and purpose. He has a most fluid and clear style and an excellent command on the podium… a most complete musician.”
Kenneth Woods has conducted critically praised productions of operas from Britten to Puccini, and ballet scores as diverse as Giselle, the Nutcracker and Firebird. Woods’ work as an active proponent of contemporary music includescollaborations with composers including John Corigliano, Krystopf Penderecki, Peter Lieberson and Oliver Knussen.
In 2005, he was asked by the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra to found a new professional training institute for young conductors. In just four years under his leadership, the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop has become widely recognized as one of the leading training centers in the world for young conductors, drawing students from the world’s leading conservatories and nations as diverse as Argentina, Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Canada. In 2009, the RCICW will be the subject of a major documentary on American television.
As a cellist he has been recipient of the Aspen Fellowship (Mr. Woods has received the Aspen Fellowship as both a cellist and conductor), the Dale Gilbert Award (the only musician to win this award in consecutive years), the Strelow Quartet Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant and has recorded and toured extensively as soloist and chamber musician. He has played chamber music with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, theCincinnati, Chicago and Toronto symphonies, and the Minnesota, Gewandhaus and Concertgebow orchestras. He was founding cellist of the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Taliesin Trio, and of the Masala Quartet, who have
recorded for Vienna Modern Masters and appeared at festivals and concert series’ in the US and Europe. He is currently cellist of the string trioEnsemble Epomeo, with whom he performs regularly in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Mr. Woods pursued his advanced conducting studies as a fellowship student at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and also studied at leading summer institutes and workshops around the world. He has studied conducting with Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Jorma Panula, and Gerhard Samuel. In this capacity as an assistant, he collaborated with James Conlon, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Paavo Jarvi, Richard Hickox, Robert Spano, Tadaaki Otaka, Jiri Belohlavek and Peter Oundjian.
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