# John Woolrich

John Woolrich (Cirencester, 10 novembre 1954) è un compositore inglese.

## Biografia

Woolrich ha fondato un gruppo (il Composers Ensemble), un festival (Hoxton New Music Days) ed è stato compositore in associazione con l'Orchestra di St John's e la Britten Sinfonia. Le sue collaborazioni con il Birmingham Contemporary Music Group hanno portato alla sua nomina nel 2002 come Artist-in-Association. È stato Direttore Artistico Ospite del Festival di Aldeburgh nel 2004 e Direttore Artistico Associato del festival dal 2005 al 2010. Dal 2010 al 2013 Woolrich è stato sia Direttore Artistico della Dartington International Summer School che Professore di Musica alla Brunel University. Dal 2013 al 2016 è stato Direttore Artistico di Mirepoix Musique in Francia.
Una serie di implicazioni si intrecciano attraverso la sua musica: l'arte della trascrizione creativa - Ulysses Awakes, per esempio, è una ricomposizione di un'aria di Monteverdi e The Theatre Represents a Garden: Night, è basato su frammenti di Mozart e un fascino per macchinari e i processi meccanici, ascoltati in molti pezzi tra cui The Ghost in the Machine e The Barber's Timepiece.
Per tutti gli anni '90, Woolrich ebbe una serie di commissioni orchestrali, che portarono ad alcune delle sue opere più significative: i suoi concerti per viola, oboe e violoncello. Un CD dei concerti per viola e oboe dell'etichetta NMC ha attirato particolare attenzione ed è stato "Record of the Week" su BBC Radio 3. Altri brani orchestrali scritti durante questo periodo includono The Ghost in the Machine, presentato in anteprima in Giappone da Andrew Davis e la BBC Symphony Orchestra e Si Va Facendo Notte che il Barbican Centre ha commissionato per celebrare il Mozart European Journey Project.
Tra i brani recenti figurano Between the Hammer and the Anvil, per la London Sinfonietta, un concerto per violino per Carolin Widmann e la Royal Northern Sinfonia, Falling Down, un concerto per controfagotto per Margaret Cookhorn e la City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra e To the Silver Bow per Leon Bosch e l'Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Più recentemente Woolrich ha composto "A Book of Inventions", una serie di quartetti d'archi su larga scala.
È stato il compositore della settimana di BBC Radio 3 nel marzo 2008. John Woolrich ha composto "Saying Goodbye at the Edge of the Dark", che è stato eseguito per la prima volta in una scuola altamente prestigiosa sulla costa meridionale nel 2017. Il pezzo parlava di salutare le persone prima di andare in guerra e le emozioni che quelle persone hanno provato. Il pezzo emulava le stesse identiche emozioni che queste persone provavano, ai musicisti che dovevano eseguirlo.

## Opere selezionate

* Ulysses Awakes (1989)
* The Ghost in the Machine (1990)
* A Farewell (1992)
* Viola Concerto (1993)
* Oboe Concerto (1996)
* Sestina (1997)
* Cello Concerto (1998)
* A Shadowed Lesson (1999)
* Bitter Fruit (2000)
* Spring in Winter (2001)
* The Elephant from Celebes (2005)
* Going a Journey (2006)
* Violin Concerto (2008)
* Whitel's Ey (2008)
* Falling Down (2009)
* Capriccio (2009)
* Pluck from the Air (2013)
* Call to the Mirrors (2014)
* The Tongs and the Bones (2014)
* To the Silver Bow, a double concerto for viola, bass and strings (2014)
* The Voices (2014)
* That saying goodbye at the edge of the dark (2016)
* A Book of Inventions (2016–19)

## Tutte le opere
### Ottoni e legni

* Call to the Mirrors (2014)
* Fanfare (1994)
* Sennets and Tuckets (1998)

### Gruppo da camera

* A Book of Studies sets I and II (1993)
* A Cabinet of Curiosities (1993)
* A Dramolet, for clarinet, cello and piano (2008)
* A Farewell, for clarinet, viola and piano (1992)
* A Leap in the Dark (1994)
* A Presence of Departed Acts, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2002)
* A Shadowed Lesson (1993)
* Adagissimo, for piano quartet (1997)
* After the Clock (1989)
* Another Journey Calls (from A Book of Inventions)
* Badinerie (from A Book of Inventions)
* Caprichos (1997)
* Contredanse (1991)
* Cutting a Caper (2001)
* Dartington Doubles (1988)
* Debricollage (from A Book of Inventions)
* Disparition (from A Book of Inventions)
* Envoi, for viola and small ensemble (1997)
* Exploit in White, for brass quintet (2001)
* Fantazia, for viol consort (1994)
* Favola in Musica I, for oboe, clarinet and piano (1990)
* Favola in Musica II, for oboe, soprano saxophone and percussion (1992)
* From the Book of Disquiet (2005)
* From the Shadow (1994)
* Going a Journey (2006)
* In the Mirrors of Asleep (2007)
* In the Stones, for string quartet (2004)
* Kleine Wanderung (from A Book of Inventions)
* Leaving Home, for oboe quintet (2003)
* Lending Wings (1989)
* Music from a House of Crossed Desires (1996)
* My Box of Phantoms, for oboe quartet (1998)
* Oboe Quintet (1998)
* Pluck from the Air, for piano quintet (2013)
* Quick Steps (1990)
* Quiddities (2005)
* Scamander (from A Book of Inventions)
* Sestina, for piano quartet (1997)
* Songs and Broken Music (1993)
* Spalanzani's Daughter (1983)
* Stealing a March (2000)
* Stone Dances (1980)
* String Quartet No. 1 (1995)
* String Quartet No. 2 (2000)
* String Trio (1996)
* Suite from Bitter Fruit (2002)
* Swan Song (2015)
* The Death of King Renaud, for string quintet (1991)
* The Devil in the Clock (2012)
* The Iron Cockerel Sings (1998)
* The Lost Day of Return (2004)
* The Night will not draw on, for piano trio (2008)
* The path is winding (from A Book of Inventions)
* The Turkish Mouse, for oboe and piano (1988)
* The Way Out Discovered (1997)
* Three Arias for Oboe and Six Viols (2001)
* Three Fantasias for Six Viols (2001)
* Toward the Black Sky, for piano trio (1997)
* Villanesca (from A Book of Inventions)
* Watermark, for violin and bass clarinet (2002)

### Orchestra da camera

* A Curtain Tune (1996)
* Arcangelo (2002)
* Between the Hammer and the Anvil (2008)
* Cantilena (1997)
* Come and Go (2005)
* Concerto for Orchestra (1999)
* Speed the Going (1998)
* Through paths and turnings (2013)

### Coro

* A Book of Elegies (1996)
* A Quality of Loss (2014)
* A world is growing green (2016)
* Earth Grown Old (2003)
* Far from Home (1993)
* Little Walserings (1999)
* Over the Sea (1993)
* Paradise (2000)
* Spring in Winter (2001)
* That saying goodbye at the edge of the dark (2016)
* The Old Year (1999)
* The Rolling Years (2000)
* This Change (2003)
* Three Choruses (1998)

### Strumentale

* A Sort of Heaven, for violin and piano (2013)
* Darker Still, for flute and piano (2002)
* Dum Spiro, Spero, for accordion (2001)
* Elegy, for cello and piano (2001)
* Four Pieces for Cello and Piano (1994)
* Im Ruhigen Tal, for violin and piano (1993)
* Keepsake, for solo cor anglais (2000)
* Locus Solus, for piano (1998)
* Ostinato, for piano (2019)
* Pianobooks I-XV (1991–2016)
* ....that is Night, for violin and piano (1995)
* The Kingdom of Dreams, for oboe and piano (1989)
* The wakeful Night, for clarinet in A (2019)
* Three Capriccios for Oboe (2001)
* Three Pieces for Viola (1993)
* Three Pieces for Violin (2001)
* Through a Limbeck, for solo viola (2002)
* ....with land in Sight, for solo cello (1994)

### Teatro musicale

* Bitter Fruit (1999–2000)

### Orchestra

* A Capriccio to Calliope Herself (2000)
* A Litany, for oboe and strings (1998–99)
* Accord (1999)
* Concerto for Cello (1998)
* Concerto for Oboe (1996)
* Concerto for Viola (1993)
* Concerto for Violin (2008)
* Falling Down, for double bassoon and orchestra (2009)
* Fanfarronada (2002)
* Si Va Facendo Notte, for clarinet and strings (1992)
* Tales of Transformation (2004)
* The Barber's Timepiece (1986)
* The Elephant from Celebes (2005)
* The Ghost in the Machine (1990)
* The Street of Crocodiles, for piano, trumpet and strings (2005)
* The Theatre Represents a Garden: Night (1991)
* The Tongs and the Bones (2014)
* Whitel's Ey (2008)

### Orchestra d'archi

* Another Staircase Overture (1994)
* Blue Drowning (2005)
* Capriccio (2009)
* Italian Songs (2009)
* It is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer (1992)
* To the Silver Bow, for viola, bass and strings (2014)
* Ulysses Awakes (1989)
* Variation on 'Sellinger's Round' (2013)

### Voce

* A Paper of Black Lines (2008)
* A Singing Sky (2009)
* Ariadne Laments (1994)
* Berceuse (1990)
* Black Riddle (1984)
* Cascades (1983)
* Five Italian Songs (1984)
* Four Concert Arias (1994)
* Four Songs after Hoffmann (1981)
* Good Morning – Midnight (2002)
* Harlequinade (1983)
* Here is My Country (1995)
* La Cantarina (1989)
* Light and Rock (1988)
* Malicious Observer (1995–96)
* Ophelia Songs (1988)
* Serbian Songs (1988)
* The Sea and its Shore (2004)
* The Unlit Suburbs (1998)
* The Voices (2014)
* Three Cautionary Tales (1990–94)
* Three Macedonian Songs (1984)
* Three Purcell Songs, arranged for high voice and strings
* Three Songs for alto and six viols (2001)
* Three Songs for mezzo and strings (2003)
* To Witness her Goodbye (1995)
* Twisting that Lock (1997)