by Kenneth Woods | Nov 7, 2008 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
Ken- We’re nearing the end of our very, very lengthy discussion with conductor Kenneth Woods about his performance last week of Elgar’s epic First Symphony with the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. Ken, you seemed very happy with the orchestra. Ken- I was...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 7, 2008 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
Ken- I’m speaking today with the verbose and loquacious conductor Kenneth Woods about his perforamce of Elgar’s Symphony no. 1 with the Gulf Coast Symphony. Ken, having done Elgar 1 twice now, do you feel your thinking on the piece has evolved? Ken- Well,...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 7, 2008 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
I’ve been feeling a bit uninspired here of late- probably a combination of being a bit too busy to really think about writing, and of not doing enough reading to feel I have anything non-autobiographical to discuss. What I really need is a bit of topical guidance-...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 2, 2008 | A view from the podium
In any normal week, this would have been the easy winner of “quote of the week.” At the end of my “words on music” session with the Gulf Coast Symphony, one of the audience paid me this rather unusual compliment. I’d sort of assumed that the folks that come to these...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 1, 2008 | A view from the podium
Well, it’s nearly show time in Biloxi. The week has flown by between rehearsals, a brief trip up to Birmingham and way too much MSNC. Part of my time was spent giving two “Words on Music” lectures to local music lovers. The first took place at the Walter Anderson...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 30, 2008 | A view from the podium
I got a nice mention on the excellent Through These Ears in an interesting post about the job of the Music Director, one inspired in part by this article in the Washington Post- Aside from having high performance standards and a good working environment, there are...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 30, 2008 | A view from the podium
First- a nice piece on my upcoming concert at the University of Delaware Master Players series on the 13th of November from Delaware Online, including lots of information on my colleagues. The University of Delaware Department of Music is proud to present the Fifth...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 27, 2008 | A view from the podium
It’s official- I now know someone in every orchestra from another orchestra…. Fresh on the heels of meeting a first oboist from the Kelvin Ensemble playing 2nd in the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra, I arrived at the rehearsal today at the Gulf Coast Symphony and the...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 26, 2008 | A view from the podium
One of the big bonuses of being a conductor is that work, again and again, has taken me places or introduced me to people I would never have otherwise found. This week promises to be another such occasion as I am spending it in Gulfport-Biloxi Mississippi with the...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 23, 2008 | A view from the podium
I’ve been wanting to share a few post-concert thoughts from Saturday’s program with the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra. In spite of the fact that the centerpiece of the concert was an unknown work by a relatively unknown composer, we had a very full house for the...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 17, 2008 | A view from the podium
Given that I’ve spent almost 2 weeks and thousands of words describing my few days of rehearsals in Pendleton for our opening weekend of the season in relentless, naval-gazing detail, it may surprise readers to know that I find it very hard to write about concerts....
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 15, 2008 | A view from the podium
Concert-day rehearsals are a relatively new (and much-needed) addition to the OES schedule, but out of deference to delicate sensibilities we only rehearse for 2 hours, which feels like a painfully short period compared to the 3 hour call on Friday evening. Perhaps I...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 14, 2008 | A view from the podium
One of the challenges in doing rare works like the Bloch Suite, is that it is exceedingly hard to locate basic background materials. Fortunately, with some help, we have found Bloch’s own program notes on the piece. I reproduce them here especially for the many...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 14, 2008 | A view from the podium
As we prepare for the UK Premiere of Hans Gál’s Violin Concerto, op 39 (written in 1933!) I thought I would be worth sharing some of Gál’s own thoughts on the concerto. I would not hesitate to speculate that his was probably the most musically thoughtful article ever...
by Kenneth Woods | Oct 13, 2008 | A view from the podium
It was a short and restless night before CONCERT DAY ONE. Sam did well with jetlag over the summer, but it’s really hit him this week, which means he wants to go to bed most days at 3 PM and wake up at 2 AM. Still, that gives me 2 hours of peace between Rainbow and...
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