Peter Ash (born 1961, in DeWitt, Iowa ) is a composer and conductor, best known for his opera The Golden Ticket (based on the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ) [1] and for his work with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been artistic director since 2001. [2]
A graduate of Guildhall School of Music, Ash has conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera (where he conducted the world premiere of Tobias Picker's opera Fantastic Mr. Fox ), Lisbon Opera, English Bach Festival and many other ensembles, including the Scharoun Ensemble (composed of members of the Berlin Philharmonic ) at the Salzburg Festival; in 2006, the Hungarian Cultural Centre awarded him its Bartók Prize for his performances of the composer’s music and in particular for a performance of Bluebeard’s Castle . [3]
His first opera, Keepers of the Night, was premiered by the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus in 2007 to critical acclaim. His most recent opera, The Golden Ticket, was premiered by Opera Theatre St Louis in June 2010, repeated at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland in October, 2010, then recorded in Atlanta, Georgia in November, 2012, with the composer conducting. Gramophone Magazine praised the release (on the Albany label), saying "Ash's score brims with tuneful and contemporary ingredients, as well as nods to Wagner, Britten, Bernstein and others" and calling it "an uproarious and endearing operatic adventure" [4] He has also published incidental music for Cloud 9 (play) by Caryl Churchill and music for television. His 2009 song cycle Paradox, based on texts by Willa Cather and William Shakespeare, was commissioned by mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner, flautist Amy Morris and pianist Michael Heaston for "The Prairie Song Project," and released on CD in 2016. [5] Future projects include a choral work based on Roald Dahl and a third opera.
Sir John Barbirolli was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings.
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund was a Finnish conductor and violinist.
Thomas Joseph Edmund Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor. Five compositions by Adès received votes in the 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000: The Tempest (2004), Violin Concerto (2005), Tevot (2007), In Seven Days (2008), and Polaris (2010).
Julian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Loris Haykasi Tjeknavorian is an Iranian Armenian composer and conductor. He has appeared internationally as a conductor, serving as the principal conductor of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra from 1989 to 1998 and later from 1999 to 2000. As a composer Tjeknavorian has written 6 operas, 5 symphonies, choral works, chamber music, ballet music, piano and vocal works, concerti for piano, violin, guitar, cello and pipa, as well as music for documentary and feature films. Among his best known works are the opera Rostam and Sohrab, based on the story of Rostam and Sohrab from Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, and the ballet Simorgh.
Bramwell Tovey was a British conductor and composer.
Philip Cashian is an English composer. He is the head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music.
Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer.
Mark Simpson is a British composer and clarinettist from Liverpool. In 2006, he became notable for winning both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year, making him the first and, to date, only person to win both competitions.
Stuart MacRae is a Scottish composer.
David Bruce is a British composer and YouTuber.
Alexander Frey, KM, KStJ, is an American symphony orchestra conductor, virtuoso organist, pianist, harpsichordist and composer. Frey is in great demand as one of the world's most versatile conductors, and enjoys success in the concert hall and opera house, and in the music of Broadway and Hollywood. Leonard Bernstein referred to him as "a wonderful spirit".
Matthew King is a British composer, pianist, and educator. His works include opera, piano and chamber music, and choral and orchestral pieces. He has been described by Judith Weir, Master of the Queen’s Music, as “one of Britain's most adventurous composers, utterly skilled, imaginative, and resourceful."
Geoffrey Paterson is a British conductor.
Eleanor Deanne Therese Alberga is a Jamaican contemporary music composer who lives and works in the United Kingdom. Her most recent compositions include two Violin Concertos, a Trumpet Concerto and a Symphony.
Francisco Coll is a Spanish composer.
Michael Adelson is an American orchestral conductor. Adelson is a staff and cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic—where he also leads regular clinics and workshops for the orchestra's Department of Education—as well as conductor of the Auros Group for New Music in Boston.
Peter Gregory Rose is a conductor, composer, arranger, and music director. He has conducted orchestral, choral and ensemble premieres throughout Europe and the Far East.
John Carewe is a British conductor and teacher.