{{Short description|American conductor, composer and cellist}} '''Kenneth Allen Woods''' (born 1968) is an American conductor,<ref name="Oestreich2001">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/arts/music-too-few-american-maestros-try-making-them.html | title=Too Few American Maestros? Try Making Them | work=The New York Times | author=James R. Oestreich | date=2001-06-24 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> composer and cellist, resident in the UK.<ref name=Morley2013>{{cite news | url=https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/english-symphony-orchestra-launches-major-6092821 | title=English Symphony Orchestra launches a major subscription series | work=Business Live | author=Christopher Morley | date=2013-09-27 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref>
==Early career== Woods studied conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His subsequent conducting mentors have included Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Jorma Panula and Gerhard Samuel. In 2000, Zinman selected Woods to be a fellow in the inaugural class of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. In 2001, Slatkin chose Woods as one of four participants in the Kennedy Center National Conducting Institute.<ref name="Oestreich2001"/>
Woods was music director of the Dayton Philharmonic in 1999, of the Grande Ronde Symphony from 1999 to 2002, and of the Oregon East Symphony (OES) from 2000 to 2009. From 1999 to 2002, he was head of conducting, strings and chamber music at Eastern Oregon University.
==UK career== In 2009, Woods was appointed principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of the Swan. His recording projects with the Orchestra of the Swan included the first complete recording of the symphonies of Austrian composer Hans Gál,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/arts/music/orchestra-of-the-swan-record-gal-and-schumann.html | title=Orchestra of the Swan Record Gál and Schumann | work=The New York Times | author=James R. Oestreich | date=2012-06-01 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> the complete symphonies of Robert Schumann, Gustav Mahler's ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellan'' and ''Das Lied von der Erde'' (orchestrated by Schoenberg),<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Jan12/Mahler_songs_SOMMCD0109.htm | title=Review of Somm Céleste SOMMCD 0109 | work=International Record Review | author=Dan Morgan | date=2012-01-12 | accessdate=2020-12-30}}</ref> and new works for traditional Japanese instruments and orchestra, "Springs Sounds, Spring Seas".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/ROTY/roty2012_AL.htm|title=Recordings of the Year 2012|last=|first=|date=December 2012|website=MusicWeb International|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>
===English Symphony Orchestra=== In 2012, the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) named Woods as artistic director of its Malvern concert series, during an interregnum period for the orchestra.<ref name="Deller">{{cite news | url=https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/classical_music/orchestral-reprise-english-symphony-orchestra/ | title=Orchestral reprise: English Symphony Orchestra | work=Gramophone | author=Toby Deller | date=2013-10-27 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> In 2013, the ESO elevated Woods to the post of principal conductor,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/article/kenneth-woods-named-english-symphony-orchestra-principal-conductor | title=Kenneth Woods named English Symphony Orchestra principal conductor | work=Gramophone | author=Charlotte Smith | date=2013-08-02 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> and in 2015, to artistic director. During his ESO tenure, Woods has premiered, commissioned and made recordings of new works by Robert Fokkens, David Matthews,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/10/english-symphony-orchestra-woods-review-st-georges-bristol-david-matthews-ninth-symphony | title=English Symphony Orchestra/Woods review – David Matthews' ninth brims with exuberant invention | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2018-05-10 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> Emily Doolittle, Tom Kraines, Kile Smith, Geoffrey Gordon, Deborah Pritchard,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/24/english-string-orchestra-kenneth-woods-review-deborah-pritchard | title=ESO/Woods review – Pritchard's vibrant violin concerto captures sound of the sea | work=The Guardian | author=Alfred Hickling | date=2017-04-25 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> Stephen Gerber, Nimrod Borenstein, Toby Young, Paul Patterson, Hans Gál, Donald Fraser, James Francis Brown and Jesse Jones. Woods led the ESO in its first full-length opera performance, of ''Jane Eyre'' by John Joubert, given its world premiere in October 2016.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/26/jane-eyre-review-john-joubert-opera-english-symphony-orchestra | title=Jane Eyre review – Joubert's opera brings melodic potency to Brontë's novel | work=The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2016-10-26 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref>
In 2013, Woods re-established the position of ESO Composer-in-Association, with John McCabe in the post. Following McCabe's death in 2015, Philip Sawyers took up the position. Sawyers compositions for the ESO have included ''Songs of Loss and Regret'', ''Fanfare'', Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Trumpet Concerto, ''Elegiac Rhapsody for Trumpet and Strings in Memory of John McCabe'' and his Third Symphony.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/critics-choice-2017-the-year-s-best-loved-classical-recordings | title=Critics' Choice 2017: the year's best-loved classical recordings | work=Gramophone | author=Guy Rickards | date=2017-12-14 | accessdate=2020-12-30}}</ref> Sawyers was succeeded in 2018 by David Matthews, whose tenure saw recordings of his Ninth Symphony, ''Variations for Strings'' and Double Concerto for Violin and Viola. In 2020, Adrian Williams took up the position.
Sawyers' Third Symphony also became the first work in the ESO's 21st Century Project,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2016/12/22/the-english-symphony-orchestras-21st-c-symphony-project-nine-symphonies-nine-composers-one-orchestra/|title=The 21st Century Symphony Project Manifesto|last=Woods|first=Kenneth|date=|website=Musical Opinion|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> an effort to commissions nine new symphonies by leading composers. Subsequent works in the series have included David Matthews' Ninth Symphony and the Fifth Symphony of Matthew Taylor.
==Colorado MahlerFest== In 2015, Woods became the new artistic director of the Colorado MahlerFest,<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.dailycamera.com/2016/05/15/kenneth-woods-takes-mahlerfest-reins-from-longtime-leader-robert-olson/ | title=Kenneth Woods takes MahlerFest reins from longtime leader Robert Olson | work=Daily Camera | author=Kelly Dean Hansen | date=2016-05-15 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> the second artistic director in the festival's history. At the Colorado MahlerFest, Woods established a new training institute for young conductors (the Mahler Conducting Fellowship), a chair for an annual visiting composer, and an expansion of the festival's chamber music and contemporary music offerings.<ref name="KDH2017">{{cite news | url=http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/classicalmusic/ci_31003677/woods-makes-shattering-impact-at-mahlerfest | title=Review: Kenneth Woods makes shattering impact at MahlerFest | work=Daily Camera | author=Kelly Dean Hansen | date=2017-05-20 | accessdate=2018-05-14}}</ref> Visiting composers have included David Matthews, Jesse Jones and Kurt Schwertsik. In 2017, Woods led the MahlerFest Orchestra in their first performance of the Deryck Cooke performing version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony in a new edition using revisions and corrections from Colin Matthews, David Matthews and Peter Wadl.<ref name="KDH2017"/> In 2019, Woods and Colorado MahlerFest gave the world premiere performance of a new critical edition of Mahler's First Symphony by Breitkopf & Härtel.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.boulderweekly.com/entertainment/mahlerfest-xxxii-offers-two-orchestral-concerts-in-expanded-schedule/ | title=MahlerFest XXXII offers two orchestral concerts in expanded schedule | work=Boulder Weekly | author=Peter Alexander | date=2019-05-16 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref>
==Arranger and composer== Woods' orchestrations and arrangements of music by other composers includes an orchestration of Brahms' Piano Quartet No. 2, recorded with the ESO for Nimbus.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/best-2018-classical-cds | title=Best of 2018: Classical CDs | work=The Arts Desk | author= Graham Rickson | date=2018-12-29 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> In 2012, the English Chamber Orchestra recorded his orchestration of Viktor Ullmann's Third String Quartet. Other arrangements and orchestrations include works by Mahler, Schubert, Humperdinck and Tchaikovsky. Woods' own music has been recorded on Avie Records.
==Entartete Musik== Woods was the cellist in the second American performance of Viktor Ullmann's Third String Quartet, following study with Henry Meyer, second violinist of the LaSalle String Quartet and a concentration camp survivor. Inspired by Meyer's teaching and experiences, Woods has advocated the music of composers known as ''Entartete Musik'' (Degenerate Music), after its suppression during the Third Reich.<ref>{{cite news | url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/little-known-composers-get-their-due-in-the-studio-if-not-the-concert-hall/2012/08/09/d7b5c1c2-e0b6-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html | title= Little-known composers get their due in the studio if not the concert hall | newspaper=Washington Post | author=Anne Midgette | date=2012-08-10 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> He has made recordings of music by Hans Krása, Ernst Krenek,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eso.co.uk/eso-recording-krenek-piano-concerti-vol-1-with-pianist-mikhail-korzhev-a-sunday-times-best-of-the-year-for-2016/|title=The Times 100 Best Recordings of 2016|last=|first=|date=6 December 2016|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> Arnold Schoenberg, Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Hans Gál.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/26/gal-and-mozart-piano-concertos-royal-northern-sinfoniasarah-beth-briggs-avie | title=Gál and Mozart Piano Concertos CD review – underlining skilful transparency | work=The Guardian | author=Erica Jeal | date=2016-05-26 | accessdate=2020-12-27}}</ref> Woods is Honorary Patron of the Hans Gál Society.
==Chamber music work== As a cellist, Woods has been a recipient of the Aspen Fellowship, the Dale Gilbert Award, the Strelow Quartet Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant. He was the founding cellist of the Taliesin Trio and of the Masala Quartet. In 2006, he became a founding artist of the Clocktower Chamber Music Festival in Durango, Colorado. In 2008, he became artist-in-residence at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival. That year he also become the founding cellist of the string trio, Ensemble Epomeo.<ref name="Morley2013"/> The trio's first CD comprised the world premiere recordings of the complete string trios of Hans Gál, coupled with those of Hans Krása. Their next disc included string trios by Schnittke, Penderecki, Weinberg and Kurtág. In 2014, Ensemble Epomeo released "Auricolae: The Double Album", a collection of new storytelling works for violin, cello and narrator including new works by David Yang, Jay Reise, Andrew Waggoner, Kile Smith and Woods' own setting of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling."
In 2018, Woods made his first recording as cellist of the newly formed Briggs Piano Trio, a disc including Shostakovich's Piano Trio in E minor and two piano trios by Hans Gál.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/g%C3%A1l-shostakovich-piano-trios | title=Gál, Shostakovich: Piano Trios | work=Gramophone | author=Guy Rickards | date=September 2018 | accessdate=2020-12-30}}</ref>
==Teaching and other work== Woods has established the Rose City International Conductor's Workshop at the invitation of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra. At the Colorado MahlerFest, Woods established the Mahler Conducting Fellowship. Woods has taught conducting in master classes organized by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and The Bridgewater Hall, and is a consultant and has been an adjudicator at institutions such as the Royal College of Music.
Woods is the author of a blog, "A View from the Podium". He has written essays, features and programme notes for ''Gramophone'', ''BBC Music Magazine'', ''Classical Music Magazine'', EMI Records, ICA Classics, Warner Classics, Avie Records, Somm Recordings, Toccata Classics, Listen Magazine<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2013/11/30/listen-magazine-feature-on-hans-gal/|title=Listen Magazine- The Case for Hans Gál|last=Woods|first=Kenneth|date=2013-11-30|website=A View from the Podium (Kenneth Woods' blog)}}</ref> and others.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.kennethwoods.net Official homepage of Kenneth Woods] * [https://www.eso.co.uk/meet-the-orchestra/kenneth-woods/ English Symphony Orchestra page on Kenneth Woods] * [https://mahlerfest.org/about-kenneth-woods/ Colorado MahlerFest page on Kenneth Woods] * {{cite web |url= http://mozartcircle.porticodoro.com/mzc/interviews/?Id=October2016 |title= MozartCircle Interview: 10 Questions with Kenneth Woods |date= October 1, 2016 }}
==Other sources== *"On the Downbeat- Up and Coming Conductors," Joe Banno, ''Washington Post'', July 2, 2001 *"Scotia Festival of Music on Home Stretch," Stephen Pedersen, ''Halifax Mail Star'', June 7, 1997 *"Reading the Score and So Much More," Tim Page, ''Washington Post'', June 24, 2001 *"Round Up the Usual Suspects," David Stabler, ''The Oregonian'', May 27, 2007 *"Conductors Showcase at Roundtop," Jerry Young, ''Austin American Statesman'', June 23, 1999 *"New Direction for NPO," Peter Palmer, ''Nottingham Evening Post'', October 25, 2006 *"Conductor Says Arts at Risk When Funders Call the Tune," ''Western Mail'', June 2, 2008 *"Student Conductors Learn Secrets of the Baton," ''The Oregonian'', August 2, 2008
{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | title=Principal Conductor, English Symphony Orchestra | before=Vernon Handley | years=2013–present | after=incumbent}} {{succession box | title=Artistic Director, Colorado MahlerFest | before=Robert Olson | years=2015–present | after=incumbent}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woods, Kenneth}} Category:American male conductors (music) Category:Living people Category:21st-century American conductors (music) Category:21st-century American male musicians Category:1968 births Category:21st-century American cellists