Richard Hickox

Last updated

Richard Hickox
CBE
RICHARD HICKOX.jpg
Born
Richard Sidney Hickox

(1948-03-05)5 March 1948
Stokenchurch, Buckinghamshire, England
Died23 November 2008(2008-11-23) (aged 60)
Swansea, Wales
NationalityEnglish
Education Royal Academy of Music
Queens' College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Conductor of choir, orchestra opera music
Children3

Richard Sidney Hickox CBE (5 March 1948 – 23 November 2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.

Contents

Early life and education

Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family. After attending the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe from 1959 to 1966, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1966 to 1967, then was an organ scholar at Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1967 to 1970. [1]

Career

In 1967, while his father was Vicar of Wooburn, Buckinghamshire, Hickox founded the Wooburn Festival and eventually became its president. The Festival still takes place and features music, drama and the visual arts. Hickox also founded the Wooburn Singers and continued as conductor until succeeded by Stephen Jackson.

From 1970 to 1971 Hickox was Director of Music at Maidenhead Grammar School (later Desborough School). He founded the City of London Sinfonia in 1971, remaining music director until his death, and also founded the Richard Hickox Singers and Orchestra in the same year. [2] The Richard Hickox Singers are featured on Kate Bush's album Hounds of Love on the song "Hello Earth"; the choral section is the Georgian folk song "Tsintskaro". [3]

Hickox was the St Endellion Festivals Artistic Director from 1972 until his death in 2008. [4] The St. Endellion Festivals at the St. Endellion Collegiate Church near Port Isaac, Cornwall expanded and strengthened during his thirty years of artistic direction, with many renowned musicians participating and an Easter Festival during Holy Week created in 1974. Hickox' son Adam Hickox is a conductor for the St. Endellion Easter Festival for 2024. [5]

In 1972, aged 24, he was appointed Martin Neary's successor as organist and master of music at St. Margaret's, Westminster (the church of the Houses of Parliament), subsequently adding the directorships of the London Symphony Chorus (1976) and Bradford Festival Choral Society (1978). [1] From 1982 to 1990, he served as Artistic Director of the Northern Sinfonia, subsequently named as conductor emeritus. [1] He was Associate Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1985 until his death. He was Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus from 1976 to 1991, with whom he premiered The Three Kings by Peter Maxwell Davies in 1995. He premiered A Dance on the Hill in 2005, by the same composer. His repertoire included over 100 first performances.

In 1990, he co-founded the baroque orchestra Collegium Musicum 90 with Simon Standage. For five years, Hickox was Music Director of the Spoleto Festival, Italy. From 2000 to 2006, he was Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, thereafter becoming its Conductor Emeritus.

He became Music Director of Opera Australia in 2005. In this role he conducted the Australian premieres of The Love for Three Oranges , Rusalka , and Arabella (which won the prestigious Helpmann Award for Best Opera in 2008). He collaborated on new productions of The Tales of Hoffmann and Alcina . CD recordings of The Love for Three Oranges and Rusalka were released by Chandos and received positive reviews in the international and local press. Hickox also led major revivals, including Tannhäuser , Death in Venice , Giulio Cesare , Billy Budd , and Janáček's The Makropulos Affair .

In recent years, singers Fiona Janes and Bruce Martin, both principal artists with Opera Australia, but not given appropriate roles, left the organisation, criticising Hickox and the Opera Australia board for what they saw as declines in artistic standards. [6] [7]

Hickox was contracted as Opera Australia's music director through to 2012 at the time of his death in November 2008. [8]

Hickox was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours. [9] His recording repertoire concentrated on British music, in which he made a number of recording premieres for Chandos Records (he made over 280 recordings for this company). In 1997 he won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his recording of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes .

He garnered five Gramophone Awards: for recordings of Britten's War Requiem (1992); Frederick Delius's Sea Drift (1994); William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1995); the original 1913 version of Ralph Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony (2001 Record of the Year and Best Orchestral Disc); and Charles Villiers Stanford's Songs of the Sea (2006 Editor's Choice). He made only the second recording of Delius's Requiem (1996).

He was awarded a Doctorate of Music from Durham University in 2003 and was an Honorary Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge. He received two Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, the first Sir Charles Groves Award, the Evening Standard Opera Award and the Association of British Orchestras Award. He was President of the Elgar Society.

Death

On 23 November 2008, during a recording session of Holst's First Choral Symphony for Chandos, Hickox was taken ill and died in Swansea [10] from a dissecting thoracic aneurysm. [11] [12] He had been scheduled to conduct a new production of Vaughan Williams' Riders to the Sea at English National Opera later that month. [1]

A memorial service was held at Queens' College, Cambridge, on 26 November 2008, with music conducted by Sir David Willcocks. [13] A service of Thanksgiving took place in St Paul's Cathedral, London on 12 March 2009. [14]

Brett Dean dedicated the fifth movement of his "Epitaph for string quintet (viola quintet) (2010)" in memory of Richard Hickox who was the conductor of the premiere of Dean's first opera, "Bliss".

Personal life

Hickox was married three times. [15] In 1970 he married Julia Smith: the marriage was dissolved in 1976. [15] [16] His second marriage to Frances Sheldon-Williams produced a son, the singer-songwriter Tom Hickox. That marriage was also dissolved. His third marriage was to the contralto Pamela Helen Stephen with two offspring - Adam and Abigail. His son Adam became an assistant conductor in Rotterdam in 2019. [15] [17] Pamela Helen Stephen died 30 November 2021. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera Australia</span> Principal opera company in Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, New South Wales, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent at the Arts Centre Melbourne, where it is accompanied by Orchestra Victoria. In 2004, the company gave 226 performances in its subscription seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, Victoria, attended by more than 294,000 people.

The BBC Symphony Chorus is a British amateur chorus based in London. It is the dedicated chorus for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though it performs with other national and international orchestras.

Susan Milan is an English professor of flute of the Royal College of Music, classical performer, recording artiste, composer, author and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City of London Sinfonia</span> English chamber orchestra

City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is an English chamber orchestra based in London. CLS is orchestra-in-residence at Opera Holland Park since 2004 and holds a residency at St Paul's Cathedral. CLS also performs regularly across the city of London in venues from East London clubs to traditional Central London concert halls. It is a registered charity under English law. CLS performs chamber orchestra and ensemble repertoire from the Baroque period to the present day, and has a programming focus on the human voice.

<i>Spring Symphony</i> 1949 choral symphony by Benjamin Britten

Spring Symphony is a choral symphony by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 44. The work is scored for soprano, alto and tenor soloists, mixed choir, boys' choir and orchestra. Britten used texts of several poems related to spring, mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries and also one by W. H. Auden. Britten dedicated the work to Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The work received its premiere in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam on 14 July 1949 as part of the Holland Festival

Laura Claycomb is an American lyric coloratura soprano singer.

Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens. Since March 2024, it has been owned by Klaus Heymann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Barker</span> Australian operatic soprano

Cheryl Ruth Barker is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including the title roles in Dvořák's Rusalka, Janáček's Káťa Kabanová and Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and Emilia Marty in Janáček's The Makropulos Case. She has also made two solo recordings of opera arias, one with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor David Parry and the other with Orchestra Victoria and conductor Richard Bonynge. On the stage she has had partnerships with the English National Opera (ENO) and Opera Australia.

Martyn Charles Brabbins is a British conductor.

Collegium Musicum 90 is an English baroque orchestra playing on period instruments. It was founded by violinist Simon Standage and conductor Richard Hickox in 1990 and was jointly directed by them until the death of Hickox in November 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Gardner (conductor)</span> English conductor

Edward Gardner is an English conductor. While still studying at the Royal Academy of Music in the late 1990s, he began his professional career as a choral conductor and repetiteur. Among other early posts, he was music director of Glyndebourne on Tour from 2004 to 2007. Gardner was music director of English National Opera from 2007 to 2015. From 2010 to 2016, he was principal guest conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and since 2013, he has been principal guest conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 2021, he has been principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022, he also became artistic advisor of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, where he is scheduled to become the music director in 2024.

The Philharmonia Chorus is an independent self-governing symphony chorus based in London, UK. Since its foundation in 1957 the Chorus has given over 900 concerts and made over 100 recordings. The Chorus Master is Gavin Carr.

Claire Rutter is an English operatic soprano.

Gavin Carr is a British conductor and baritone working with major choruses in the UK and appearing in opera and concert in the UK and around the globe.

Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Burton (conductor)</span> British conductor and composer

James Burton is a British conductor and composer. He is currently the Boston Symphony Orchestra Choral Director and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He previously held the position of Director of Orchestral Activities and Master Lecturer in Music at Boston University.

Rachel Nicholls is an English soprano in opera and concert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brighton Festival Chorus</span> Musical artist

Brighton Festival Chorus is a large choir of over 150 amateur singers based in Brighton, UK. One of the country's leading symphony choruses.., and considered "one of the jewels in the city's musical crown", BFC performs in major concert halls throughout Britain and Europe, particularly in Brighton and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Rosenbaum</span> American conductor and musician (born 1950)

Harold Rosenbaum is an American conductor and musician. He is the artistic director and conductor of the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Canticum Novum Singers. The New York Virtuoso Singers appear on 48 albums on labels including Naxos Records and Sony Classical. He has collaborated extensively with many ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can, Mark Morris Dance Group, Orchestra of Saint Luke's, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Riverside Symphony, and Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Alexander Levine, is a Russian-born British composer. He writes choral, chamber and orchestral music, publishing through Edition Peters.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Obituary: Richard Hickox". The Guardian. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  2. ↑ "London debuts" . Reviews. The Times. No. 58124. London. 17 March 1971. p. 12. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Credited in EMI booklet, CDP7461642
  4. ↑ St. Endellion Festivals. https://endellionfestivals.org.uk/
  5. ↑ St. Endellion Festivals. https://endellionfestivals.org.uk/easterinformation
  6. ↑ Roger Maynard (16 August 2008). "Soprano sounds off about 'disrespectful' Briton in charge of Opera Australia". The Independent. London, UK. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  7. ↑ Bryce Hallett (3 October 2008). "Noises off: opera singer was made to sound 'like a goat'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 November 2008.
  8. ↑ "Richard Hickox, opera conductor, dies aged 60". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  9. ↑ "No. 56595". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2002. pp. 7–8.
  10. ↑ "Shock over music conductor's sudden death". 25 November 2008.
  11. ↑ Ashleigh Wilson (24 November 2008). "Opera Australia conductor Hickox dies suddenly". The Australian. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "UK conductor Hickox dies, aged 60". BBC. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  13. ↑ "Queens' College Chapel Choir". Queens' College Chapel Choir. Retrieved 25 November 2008.[ dead link ]
  14. ↑ Goldsmith, Belinda (25 November 2008). "Thanksgiving service: Richard Hickox". The Times . Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  15. 1 2 3 Millington, Barry (25 November 2008). "Obituary—Richard Hickox—Versatile conductor renowned for his interpretations of 20th-century British and choral music". The Guardian . London, UK. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  16. ↑ "Lives remembered: Lord Moore of Wolvercote, Maurice Jarre and Richard Hickox". The Times . London, UK. 14 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  17. ↑ "Richard Hickox: conductor who championed works by British composers". The Times . London, UK. 25 November 2008. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  18. ↑ "Pamela Helen Stephen obituary". The Guardian. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
Cultural offices
Preceded by
None
 Music Director, City of London Sinfonia
1971–2008		Succeeded by
Preceded by Artistic Director, Music Director and Principal Conductor, Northern Sinfonia
1982–1990		Succeeded by
Preceded by Principal Conductor, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
2000–2006		Succeeded by
Preceded by Music Director, Opera Australia
2005–2008		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.