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A Mission to Commission

Biographies of the musical directors behind W11 Opera productions.

 

Year

Work

Musical Director

2007

SHADOWTRACKS

Philip Colman

2006

Chincha-Chancha Cooroo

Philip Colman

2005

ANTiphony

Philip Colman

2004

All in the Mind

Philip Colman

2003

Game Over

Philip Colman

2002

Stormlight

Philip Colman

2001

Flying High

Philip Colman

2000

Deep Waters

Philip Colman

1999

Rip

Dominic McGonigal

1998

Birthday

Dominic McGonigal

1997

Eloise

Dominic McGonigal

1996

Ulysses and the Wooden Horse

Dominic McGonigal

1995

The Dancing Princesses

Dominic McGonigal

1994

ANTiphony

Harry Gregson-Williams

1993

Travellers Tale

Harry Gregson-Williams

1992

Listen to the Earth

Wayne Marshall

1991

A Time of Miracles

Wayne Marshall

1990

Double Trouble

Wayne Marshall

1989

Koppelberg

Wayne Marshall

1988

The Return of Odysseus

Nicholas Kraemer

1987

Ulysses and the Wooden Horse

Nicholas Kraemer

1986

The Tin Knight

Nicholas Kraemer

1985

Bel and the Dragon

Nicholas Kraemer

1984

The Adventures of Jonah

Nicholas Kraemer

1983

Rainbow Planet

Nicholas Kraemer

1982

Birthday

Nicholas Kraemer

1981

Wenceslas

Nicholas Kraemer

1980

Mak the Sheep Stealer

Nicholas Kraemer

1979

Dreamtime

Nicholas Kraemer

1978

The Girl and the Unicorn

Nicholas Kraemer

1977

The Adventures of Jonah

Nicholas Kraemer

1976

Like This, Like That

Nicholas Kraemer

1975

Joseph

Nicholas Kraemer

1974

The Winter Star

Nicholas Kraemer

1973

Bel and the Dragon

Nicholas Kraemer

1972

The Pied Piper

Nicholas Kraemer

1971

Noye’s Fludde

Nicholas Kraemer


 

Philip Colman (2000 to present)

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Photograph © Andrew Crowley
 

Philip is Professor of Piano and a Senior Lecturer at Trinity College of Music. As well as his teaching commitments, he has a busy schedule as a conductor and musical director for several London based opera, choral and theatre groups. Following on from the success of a production of Stephen Sondheim's Company at the Bridewell Theatre, Philip will be conducting Follies at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage this year, and returning to the Bridewell Theatre for Merrily We Roll Along.

For Philip, the challenge of working with the W11 Opera cast continues in this his seventh year as Musical Director. He says that “this is a hugely talented group and their capacity for absorbing very complicated musical vocabulary is clearly apparent. Now that's the excitement of working with this young cast”.

He has been vocal coach for the W11 Opera children taking part in the Opera Holland Park productions over the past few years and also conducts the young singers’ Vocal Ensemble at Trinity College. As a pianist he has worked for Ballet Rambert, Royal Opera House, RADA, and the NFT, and was even a regular pianist on the BBC children's programme Playschool.


Wayne Marshall 1989 to 1992

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Wayne Marshall was born in the UK and, after musical studies there and in Vienna, swiftly established an international reputation as organist and pianist. He is now also in great demand as conductor and duo recitalist. Other musical activities include improvisation, jazz, radio and television presentation and composition. In 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Bournemouth University in recognition of his longstanding relationship with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. A regular visitor to the BBC Proms, he featured in the 1997 Last Night of the Proms as both organ and piano soloist and the following year made his Proms conducting debut with Porgy and Bess (their Gershwin centenary tribute) and also took part in the ‘Prom in the Park’.

As organ recitalist he draws on an exceptionally large and varied repertoire, particularly favouring the French Romantics, and has appeared widely throughout the UK, Europe, North America and the Far East. As solo pianist, his repertoire includes the complete works of Gershwin for piano and orchestra to works by Ravel, Bernstein, Stravinsky and Franck. In recent seasons, guest conducting has taken him all over the UK and to many parts of Europe and the USA. As pianist/director and organ soloist he has appeared with orchestras worldwide.

Wayne Marshall is Organist-in Residence of Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, and in 1996, gave the inaugural solo recital on its splendid Marcussen organ, plus Jongen Sinfonie Concertante (Hallé Orchestra/Daniel Harding) to a capacity audience of 2,400. He regularly opens their organ recital series and other appearances include duo recitals and concerts with orchestra as organist, pianist and symphonic conductor. In addition to consultation over programming, he is closely involved with the Hall’s audience development, education and outreach programmes.

Outside Manchester, work with young musicians has included a number of youth orchestras and conservatoire orchestras, such as the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, students of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the conservatoires of Dresden and Winterthur.


 

Nicholas Kraemer (1971-1988)

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Nicholas Kraemer co-founded W11 Opera with Serena Hughes in 1971 when Britten's Noye's Fludde was presented in St.James' Church in W.11. At that time, Nicholas was principally a harpsichordist with ensembles such as the Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields and the Monteverdi Orchestra (to become John Eliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists). From 1975 he began to conduct the English Chamber Orchestra with whom he had an association until 1984 and, from 1982, Manchester Camerata with whom he is still principal guest conductor. Other orchestras with which he has been closely associated include Northern Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Bach Orchestra (artistic director 1985-1993), Irish Chamber Orchestra (artistic director 1985-1991), Music of the Baroque, Chicago (principal guest conductor from 2002), the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,  St.Paul Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Halle Orchestra.

In the opera world he has conducted mainly the operas of Handel and Mozart in Geneva, Paris, Lisbon, Marseille, Aachen, Glyndebourne and London (ENO).His speciality is to work with orchestras in the baroque repertoire, to recapture the spirit of the music of that time. He does occasionally work with younger musicians, most recently in a project with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Edinburgh Secondary Schools Orchestra.

For Nicholas Kraemer’s reminiscences of working with W11 Opera, click .