KENNETH
WOODS

Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “a symphonic conductor of stature”, American conductor Kenneth Woods was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in 2013, and has quickly built up an impressive and acclaimed body of work with them.

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KENNETH WOODS IS

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF

KENNETH’S BLOG:

A VIEW FROM THE PODIUM

John Joubert – Jane Eyre. Review from The Spiny Stalls

by Kenneth Woods | March 3, 2026 | A view from the podium | 0 Comments

Read the original here JANE EYRE Arcola Theatre ★★★★★ “at once powerful and raw while remaining refined and focused” Green Opera’s production of John Joubert’s Jane Eyre turns the best parts of opera into a phenomenal work of art. I strongly encourage...

Dortmunder Philharmoniker – Concert Review – Julia Gass, Ruhr Nachrichten

by Kenneth Woods | March 2, 2026 | A view from the podium, News and Reviews | 0 Comments

By Julia Gaß Dortmund. Brahms is a focus of the first season under Dortmund's General Music Director Jordan de Souza. The performance of all four Brahms symphonies on April 28 and 29 complemented the Violin Concerto in the fifth Philharmonic Concert on Tuesday and...

English Symphony Orchestra announce 2nd season as Orchestra in Residence at Cheltenham Town Hall

by Kenneth Woods | July 11, 2025 | A view from the podium, News and Reviews | 0 Comments

Boy, I am excited about this season!

John Eliot Gardiner and the Game of Classical Thrones

by Kenneth Woods | January 3, 2025 | A view from the podium | 4 Comments

The classical music community was rather endearingly shocked earlier this past autumn to learn that a man who has at least twice been known to allegedly assault colleagues may not be a very nice person. [NB. I've never met Maestro Gardiner and, like many, I admire a...

Mahler’s “Death and the Maiden” orchestration – Why a New Performing Version?

by Kenneth Woods | July 8, 2024 | A view from the podium, Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life | 2 Comments

What follows is an essay about my new Performing Version of Mahler's arrangement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden String Quartet, premiered at Colorado MahlerFest in 2024. Franz Schubert may have had an even more powerful influence on Mahler’s...

Elgar’s Enigmatic Silence

by Kenneth Woods | June 16, 2024 | A view from the podium | 0 Comments

I had the pleasure this week of reading a recent essay by the cultural historian Joseph Horowitz called “Three Who Quit,” a moving meditation on the later-life silences of Elgar, Ives and Sibelius. Joe and I will be recording a podcast on the topic later this week, so...

Catch and Kill – It’s Not Just for Politicians and Porn Stars

by Kenneth Woods | May 25, 2024 | A view from the podium | 1 Comment

I’ve just been listening to this latest interview between Rick Beato and Ted Gioia. Gioia is one of today’s most interesting and illuminating cultural commentators, and it’s especially interesting to hear him in dialogue with someone like Rick Beato, who has been so...

From Wigmore to Mid Wales Opera, and from Oregon to Worcester

by Kenneth Woods | March 29, 2024 | A view from the podium | 2 Comments

What follows is a Twitter thread I wrote in response to some excellent recent essays on UK arts funding. I've been thinking about a very important and balanced essay from Richard Bratby on the promise and perils of private arts funding in the UK. His description of...

Blubbing for Beck -Mark Knopfler Revives the All-Star Charity Song Idiom

by Kenneth Woods | March 23, 2024 | A view from the podium | 2 Comments

Maybe it’s the curmudgeon in me, but I was never a fan of the all-star charity track. From “We Are the World” to “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” I always found most of the songs saccharine and cloying, and the constant change of superstar vocalists off-putting. Perhaps...

Thought for the Day – Orchestral Audition Repertoire

by Kenneth Woods | October 25, 2023 | A view from the podium | 1 Comment

Thought for the day. A colleague I admire was talking today about how one might make the lists of orchestral audition excerpts more diverse. I take a different view. The professional orchestra audition process, especially in America, has got to be one of the hardest...

A great night with the orchestra, a bleak morning after

by Kenneth Woods | June 18, 2023 | A view from the podium | 2 Comments

It's been an amazing weekend seeing Philip Sawyers' new oratorio Mayflower on the Sea of Time come to life. Huge congrats to Philip S and to librettist Philip Groom for a piece that blew the roof off Worcester Cathedral. The word I keep coming back to is 'thrilling'....

RIP Christopher Gunning

by Kenneth Woods | March 27, 2023 | A view from the podium | 2 Comments

It was heartbreaking to learn of the death of Christopher Gunning, although I'd been aware he had been unwell for some time. Chris was the sort of person one felt lucky to know. He could be incredibly funny, even wicked. His vault of amazing and amusing anecdotes was...

Wayne Shorter’s Coltrane Tribute

by Kenneth Woods | March 4, 2023 | A view from the podium | 1 Comment

Among Wayne Shorter's many huge musical accomplishments, one can't help but be awed by his ability to establish a completely distinct artistic space for himself as a tenor and soprano saxophonist when the shadow of John Coltrane's enormous musical personality was so...

Explore the Score – Mendelssohn’s Scottish Masterpieces

by Kenneth Woods | March 1, 2023 | A view from the podium | 1 Comment

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Overture - “The Hebrides” (“Fingal’s Cave”), opus 26 Symphony no. 3 in A minor, “Scottish”, opus 56 HEAR IT LIVE ESTHER ABRAMI @ THE MOUNT WITHOUT 9TH MARCH 2023 at 7:30 PM THE MOUNT WITHOUT, UPPER CHURCH LANE, BRISTOL BS2 8FN MUSIC @...

The Modern Violin Concerto

by Kenneth Woods | February 12, 2023 | A view from the podium | 3 Comments

There's an interesting piece in The Strad from Peter Quantrill on the state of the violin concerto. Of course, I remember well the lovely cover feature he mentions from 2017 which focused much well-earned attention on Deborah Pritchard's concerto Wall of Water,...

Ken’s Autumn 2025 Highlights

29 August 2025
Album Release
Richard Strauss – An Alpine Symphony
World Premiere Recording of the New Critical Edition Including Strauss’s Original Alphorn Parts
– Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra
– Kenneth Woods – conductor

12 September 2025
Album Release
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 4, Selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
– April Fredrick – soprano, Brennen Guillory – tenor
– Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra
– Kenneth Woods – conductors

19 September 2025
Cheltenham Town Hall
English Symphony Orchestra
Jean Sibelius – Symphony No. 4
Sergei Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2
– Freddy Kempf – Piano
– English Symphony Orchestra
– Kenneth Woods

19 October 2025
Colorado MahlerFest
Autumn Season Reveal Concert

7 November 2025
Album Release
Signum Records
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Christopher Gunning – Symphonies No.’s 8 and 9 (world premiere recordings)

12 November 2025
Malvern Theatres
English Symphony Orchestra
Haydn – Symphony No. 60 (Il Distratto)
Weill – Cabaret Songs
– April Fredrick – soprano
Schulhoff – Suite for Chamber Orchestra
Milhaud – The Ox on the Roof

2 December 2025
Cheltenham Town Hall
English Symphony Orchestra
Richard Strauss – Four Last Songs
– April Fredrick – soprano
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 9 (reduction by Klaus Simon)

Artists:

English Symphony Orchestra
April Fredrick, soprano
Kenneth Woods, conductor

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