 |
James Gourlay (born 1956) [1] is a Scottish conductor and tubist.
|
James Gourlay (born 1956) [1] is a Scottish conductor and tubist.
Gourlay was born in Scotland and began to play in his local brass band at an early age. He took part in numerous solo competitions at that time and soon became Scottish Champion at junior and open levels. After studying at the Royal College of Music Gourlay became principal tuba of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra where he remained for four years. There followed posts in the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Orchester der Oper in Zürich where he worked with most of the world's top conductors. In 2010 he became the Musical Director of the River City Brass Band located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As a soloist and chamber musician, James Gourlay has won international acclaim. He is a former member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and has toured the World performing concertos with major orchestras and giving countless recitals. He has also broadcast Harrison Birtwistle's The Cry of Anubis with the BBC Philharmonic and has recorded a number of solo CD recordings, which cover all of the major works for tuba. Gourlay is a featured artist for both the Doyen and Polyphonic labels for whom he has recorded as a soloist and as a conductor of wind and brass bands. He has also recorded the Gregson and Vaughan Williams concertos for the Naxos label.
Gourlay has a commitment to new music and has given premières of works by Bingham, Gorb, Gilbert, Lachenmann, Gregson, Horovitz, Sparke, Penderecki and Newton to name but a few.
Gourlay has appeared as a guest conductor with both wind and brass ensembles in Europe and Brazil. He is the principal guest conductor of the National Youth Wind Orchestra Great Britain, having toured with them to Paris, Prague and Ireland, and has conducted all the UK's top Brass Bands. He has made a number of recordings with the RNCM Wind Orchestra and was the Musical Director of Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
Gourlay has guest-teaching engagements in Lyon, Weimar, the Eastman School of Music, the Juilliard School and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He was Head of Wind and Percussion at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he was awarded an honorary Fellowship, before returning to his Scottish roots and taking the appointment of Director of the School of Music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Now pursuing his a career as a soloist, conductor and pedagogue, James Gourlay is in wide demand internationally. He holds a master's degree, with distinction, from the University of Leeds and Doctor of Music Arts Degree from the University of Salford.
On 9 and 10 April 2007, Gourlay performed Bruce Fraser's "Tuba Concerto" at Birmingham Town Hall and the Cadogan Hall respectively, with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain. [2]
Chris Houlding was appointed Principal Trombone of the Orchestra of Opera North, England, when he was 21 and has played as Guest Principal with the best of UK ensembles and recently represented the UK in the World Orchestra of Peace in Russia. He is also known as an influential teacher and held the position of Senior Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for many years.
Douglas Yeo is an American bass trombonist who played in the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2012, where he held the John Moors Cabot Bass Trombone Chair. He was also on the faculty of the New England Conservatory. In 2012 he retired from the BSO and accepted a position as professor of trombone at the Arizona State University School of Music, a position he held until 2016. In 2019, he was appointed to the faculty of Wheaton College (Illinois).
Edward Gregson is an English composer of instrumental and choral music, particularly for brass and wind bands and ensembles, as well as music for the theatre, film, and television. He was also principal of the Royal Northern College of Music.
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher.
Elgar Howarth, is an English conductor, composer and trumpeter.
The Concerto in F Minor for Bass Tuba and Orchestra by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was written in 1954 for Philip Catelinet, principal tubist of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), who together gave the premiere on 13 June 1954 with Sir John Barbirolli conducting. The same musicians made the work’s first recording that same year.This concerto was the first concerto written for solo tuba.
Johannes Abraham (Johan) de Meij, born November 23, 1953, in Voorburg, Netherlands, is a Dutch conductor, trombonist, and composer, best known for his Symphony No. 1 for wind ensemble, nicknamed The Lord of the Rings symphony.
Harry Mortimer was an English composer and conductor who specialised in brass band music, one of the foremost cornet players of his era.
Walter Hilgers is a German tuba player and conductor. He performs worldwide as orchestral musician, soloist, academic music teacher, arranger and conductor.
Roger Webster is an English cornetist and psychologist. He has been acclaimed as one of the world's best ever cornetists. He also teaches performance at the Royal Northern College of Music as well as giving lectures on psychology. Webster has played with some of the world's best brass bands.
Tony Clements is an American musician who was the Principal Tubist of the San Jose Symphony from 1981 until its closure in 2001. He subsequently became Principal Tubist and a soloist with its successor, Symphony Silicon Valley.
Steven Mead is an English virtuoso euphonium soloist and teacher who has played an important role in achieving worldwide recognition of the instrument. He has played solo concerti with many symphony orchestras, including: the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Helsinki Philharmonic, Capella Cracoviensis, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the Japan Chamber Orchestra. He has premiered works by Martin Ellerby, Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, Vladimir Cosma, Goff Richards, John Reeman, Rolf Rudin and Philip Sparke, amongst others. Goff Richards' Pilatus, Aagaard-Nilsen's Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra, Reeman's Sonata for Euphonium and Ellerby's Euphonium Concerto were all written expressly for Mead.
Michael Jeffrey Shapiro is an American composer, conductor, and author.
Frank Renton is a British musician, conductor and broadcaster, and former host of Listen to the Band on BBC Radio 2.
Leonard Tan is a trinational-based, Singaporean music director, conductor, tubist, violinist, and music educator at scholastic, collegiate, conservatory, and professional levels
Peter Bassano is an English conductor.
Nigel Clarke is a British composer and musician. He is a former head of composition and contemporary music at the London College of Music and Media.
Greg Danner is a contemporary American composer, educator, and professional musician. He is currently the composer-in-residence and professor at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee. He is the 2010 Composer's Guild Grand Prize winner.
Robert Bernat was an American composer and the founder, artistic director, and conductorof the River City Brass Band in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His musical influences included his mentor, Aaron Copland, as well as other American composers including Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, and John Philip Sousa.
Andy Scott is a British tenor saxophonist, "equally at home in jazz and classical contexts", and award-winning composer who has made "important and sometimes mould-breaking contributions to the repertoire". He is currently Composer in Residence for Foden's Band. He has played with the Halle Orchestra, has formed and played with several ensembles whose musical style is rooted in big band jazz, Latin and funk.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
