by Kenneth Woods | Apr 21, 2009 | A view from the podium
I’m back at Vftp International Headquarters, tirde but happy, after a wonderful final concert as MD of the Oregon East Symphony. After a scary beginning to the year in the midst of an economic meltdown, we had our second consecutive huge audience turnout, and after...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 17, 2009 | A view from the podium
Dear Colleagues We are fast approaching the priority application deadline of April 30th for the 2009 Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop. In addition to repertoire which includes Haydn- Symphony no. 99, Debussy’s L’apres midi d’un faune, the Beethoven Fourth...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 16, 2009 | A view from the podium
I’m having an early Beethoven year so far- two runs of Beethoven 1 with the SMP last month, now Beethoven 2 in Pendleton, with the 4th to follow in a few weeks at the Helix Ensemble. There hasn’t been a whole lot of time to revisit recordings of these pieces- I’ve...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 15, 2009 | A view from the podium
Monday night I saw our Chorale and the members of the Mid-Columbia Master Singers in Richland, Washington. Our first challenge was getting used to a venue nobody had sung in before- the Master Singers’ usual venue was not open. I was a little nervous about having only...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 15, 2009 | A view from the podium
I attracted a few titters (as opposed to twitters) on Facebook the other day, when my status admitted I was in the process of comparing Urtext editions of Beethoven’s 2nd Symphony by Jonathan Del Mar (published by Barenreiter) and Clive Brown (published by Breitkopf...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 14, 2009 | A view from the podium
Distinguished author Roderick Swanston introduces his piece in the current BBC Music Magazine as follows- “Writing about music is beset by mistakes. “Distinguished” writers peddle false facts which get repeated and spread. So it gave me pleasure to...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 13, 2009 | A view from the podium
Bernard Jacobson has a very interesting article in this Sunday’s Seattle Times on the search for a new music director for the Seattle Symphony. I LOVE Seattle, and can’t think of a job I’d rather have, but I think (know) I’m still 5-10 years...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 10, 2009 | A view from the podium
There is a transcendence. It isn’t enough to simply have difficulties with life itself – one has to be able to convey this in music too! A Mahler symphony is about more than emotion, it is also about structure. In a long movement such as, for example, the last...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 10, 2009 | A view from the podium
People often think that a conductor’s job is to make decisions- she or he, after all, appears to decide whether or not to take the repeats, how fast the pieces are played, what are the articulations, what language to sing in and on. My approach is always to try to...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 8, 2009 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
I think one perceptible evolution in my study habits and interests over the last few years has been that I’ve gotten more and more interested in quotation in music. Of course, I suppose I may be putting my neck on the block a bit admitting that, because implicit in...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 5, 2009 | A view from the podium
Hear it live with the English Symphony Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square, 24 April, 2105. Booking information here I once conducted the Mozart Requiem in 2002 with the Grande Ronde Symphony, when I was teaching at Eastern Oregon University. In parallel with...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 2, 2009 | A view from the podium
On my desk this week is the Mozart Requiem, a piece I’m coming back to for the first time since 2002. I can scarcely think of a piece by any composer that affects me the way this one does. It is not easy music to study- it is as terrifying, as personal and as painful...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 1, 2009 | A view from the podium, Not quite the news, Satire
I am humbled to report that I am the subject of a major feature this morning in one of the national papers…. From today’s Guardian- Modern Maestro Rescues the Classics Conductor Kenneth Woods found his own path to the podium. While many of...
by Kenneth Woods | Mar 30, 2009 | A view from the podium
Run, don’t walk, to your computer to listen to this wonderful feature on Ravel’s La Valse on BBC iPlayer until Friday this week. Called “Dancing the Apocalypse” it’s about as good as the BBC gets at really getting to grips with a major...
by Kenneth Woods | Mar 30, 2009 | A view from the podium
The big topic of conversation this week has been the 5th and final Prokofiev Piano Concerto, which I conducted on Saturday night with Daniel de Borah and the Surrey Mozart Players. Many of you will have already seen the review, which came out yesterday. The reviewer...
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