Thomas Gould (violinist)

Last updated
Thomas Gould
Born1983 (age 37–38)
London, England
InstrumentsViolin
Associated acts Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra
Website http://www.thomasgould.com/

Thomas Gould (born 1983) is a British violinist and the leader of Britten Sinfonia, as well as former leader of Aurora Orchestra. Gould is best known for his playing of the classical music repertoire although he also plays a six-string electric violin and has performed jazz at Ronnie Scott's. [1] He has performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre and Royal Festival Hall in London, as well as Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Arena, Symphony Hall, Birmingham and National Indoor Arena. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Gould was born in London in 1983. [3] He lives in Camden, London and is the younger brother, by fifteen years, of Clio Gould, lead violinist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He studied with György Pauk at the Royal Academy of Music from the age of 16. [3] [4] He credits his sister with his choice of career, telling The Daily Telegraph in April 2011 "[…] it was inspirational, but more in a social than a musical way. Clio was always bringing these really lively, interesting people home to rehearse. It seemed an exciting life she was leading, and I wanted to do something similar." [4]

Career

Gould takes an eclectic approach to music, with Fiona Maddocks describing him in UK Sunday newspaper The Observer as, "[…] a top soloist, happy to tackle old or new in concert hall or tramshed with symphony orchestra or accordion". [5]

In 2009, aged 25, he was elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. [3]

In 2011, Gould toured with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as both soloist and guest director. [6] In June of the same year, Decca Classics released the Aurora Orchestra's recording of Nico Muhly's Seeing is Believing on which Gould played a six-string electric violin made by John Jordan; the recording was voted the iTunes Contemporary Classical Album of the Year. [3] He premiered Harrison Birtwistle's Oboe Quartet the same month.

His début with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in 2012, was conducted by John Adams. [3]

In February 2013, Gould busked at Westminster Underground Station in an attempt by the London Evening Standard to recreate the Washington Post's Joshua Bell experiment of 2007. [1] [7]

In May 2013, Gould discussed his musical approach with Christopher Morely of the Birmingham Post , saying, "It was much later that I began to apply this knowledge to the violin, having always – wrongly – thought that the violin wasn’t a jazz instrument. Now I'm in the luxurious position of being able to get up and jam at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club having just played a recital at Wigmore Hall. But I'm definitely a classical violinist first and foremost. I think my classical playing has benefited massively from working with musicians outside classical music. If I wrote a list of great musicians I've been lucky enough to work with the list would include Brad Mehldau and Radiohead as well as more expected names like Sir Mark Elder and Sir Colin Davis. I think as long as I continue to be inspired by other genres then I will continue to be a genre-crossing violinist." [1]

Writing in UK daily newspaper The Guardian in November 2014, Gould said,

"My own career is a fairly equal division between solo work and orchestral leading (with Aurora and Britten Sinfonia), with as much jazz and chamber music as time allows. I love the balance. I get to play pretty much the entire repertoire for the instrument, from Beethoven trios to Mahler symphonies to recording with Radiohead. I’m constantly playing new repertoire and working with new colleagues. That's an enormous privilege. It might mean feeling stressed at times for having multiple projects on the go simultaneously, but it means you never get that stagnant feeling of giving the umpteenth performance of the same concerto in a season. It makes it much easier to play in a way that's fresh, spontaneous and alive. If, as a performer, you enjoy what you are doing, then your audience will too." [8]

Gould has performed as soloist and director with Sinfonietta Riga, with whom he recorded Beethoven's Violin Concerto and Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. [5] In addition to his classical performances, he was a member of the Man Overboard swing quintet until February 2016 (he retired saying that he is too busy with classical music, and was replaced by Fiona Monbet) [9] and has worked with Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, and Sigur Rós.

Selected discography

Related Research Articles

Isaac Stern American violinist

Isaac Stern was an American violinist.

Cadenza

In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display. During this time the accompaniment will rest, or sustain a note or chord. Thus an improvised cadenza is indicated in written notation by a fermata in all parts. A cadenza will usually occur over the final or penultimate note in a piece, the lead-in or over the final or penultimate note in an important subsection of a piece. It can also be found before a final coda or ritornello.

Nigel Kennedy English violinist

Nigel Kennedy is an English violinist and violist. His early career was primarily spent performing classical music, and he has since expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres.

Jascha Heifetz Russian-American violinist

Jascha Heifetz was a Russian-American violinist. Born in Vilna (Vilnius), he moved as a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood—Fritz Kreisler, another leading violinist of the twentieth century, said on hearing Heifetz's debut, "We might as well take our fiddles and break them across our knees." He had a long and successful performing career. However, after an injury to his right (bowing) arm, he switched his focus to teaching.

The Gramophone Classical Music Awards, launched in 1977, are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry. They are often viewed as equivalent to or surpassing the American Grammy award, and referred to as the Oscars for classical music. They are widely regarded as the most influential and prestigious classical music awards in the world. According to Matthew Owen, national sales manager for Harmonia Mundi USA, "ultimately it is the classical award, especially worldwide."

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall.

Peter Manning FRSA is a British conductor and violinist.

Julia Fischer

Julia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist. She teaches at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts and performs up to 60 times per year.

Julian Rachlin

Julian Rachlin is a Lithuanian-born violinist, violist and conductor.

Tim Kliphuis Dutch musician

Tim Kliphuis is a Dutch violinist renowned for mixing gypsy jazz with classical and folk music.

Albert Sammons

Albert Edward Sammons CBE was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation rests mainly on his association with British composers, especially Elgar. He made a number of recordings over 40 years, many of which have been re-issued on CD.

Gordan Nikolitch, also spelled Gordan Nikolić, is a Franco-Serbian violinist. He was the first concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly 20 years, having stepped down in October 2017 to concentrate on directing and teaching.

Erich Gruenberg was an Austrian-born British violinist and teacher. Following studies in Israel, he was a principal violinist of major orchestras, including the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was an international soloist, playing the first performance of Britten's Violin Concerto in Moscow. As a chamber musician, he was leader of the London String Quartet and recorded all Beethoven violin sonatas with pianist David Wilde. He was the lead violinist for The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gruenberg taught at the Royal Academy of Music until age 95, influencing generations of violinists.

Britten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the East of England. It is a flexible ensemble composed of chamber musicians in Europe. The players are freelance musicians who are employed on a project-by-project basis and the ensemble performs around 70 concerts per year and works with hundreds of people in the communities where the orchestra is resident.

Jean Pougnet was a Mauritian-born concert violinist and orchestra leader, of British nationality, who was highly regarded in both the lighter and more serious classical repertoire during the first half of the twentieth century. He was leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 1942 to 1945.

Jeremy Denk

Jeremy Denk is an American classical pianist.

Lara Melda

Lara Melda Ömeroğlu, known professionally as Lara Melda, is a British-Turkish concert pianist.

Charlotte Bray is a British composer.

Matthew Barley is an English cellist. He is best known for his performances of core classical music, improvisation, and contemporary music including electronics.

Vilde Frang

Vilde Frang Bjærke is a Norwegian classical violinist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Morley, Christopher (22 March 2013). "Violin virtuoso Thomas Gould talks jazz, busking and performing in Birmingham". Birmingham Post . Birmingham . Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. ↑ "Thomas Gould violin; Ana-Maria Vera piano: Lisa Peacock Presents Thursday Lunchtime Showcases". Wigmore Hall . Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "About the performer: Thomas Gould". Los Angeles Philharmonic . Retrieved 10 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  4. 1 2 Hewett, Ivan (21 April 2011). "New face: Thomas Gould". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. 1 2 Maddocks, Fiona (26 April 2015). "Thomas Gould: Live in Riga review – poetic and elegant in Beethoven and The Lark Ascending". The Observer . London. Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. ↑ "Thomas Gould". Britten Sinfonia . Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ↑ Curtis, Nick (7 February 2013). "The great British busk-off: what happened when a world-class violinist played on the London Underground?". London Evening Standard . London. Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. ↑ Gould, Thomas (26 November 2014). "Thomas Gould: from Mahler to Radiohead, variety is the spice of life". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 9 December 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  9. ↑ Scotney, Sebastian (8 February 2016). "Fiona Monbet to replace Thomas Gould in The Man Overboard Quintet". LondonJazzNews. Retrieved 2 March 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
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.