2007

SHADOWTRACKS

Philip Colman

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.

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 .