LATEST NEWS...
2012
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Howard has just finished principal shooting at Twickenham Film Studios for his BBC TV series on the history of music, to be aired in the Autumn (probably) and is now in post-production and writing the accompanying book, to be published by Chatto & Windus, is composing a Royal Diamond Jubilee project as Composer-in-Residence for Classic fm, has a new show on the station, Saturday Night at the Movies (17.00 every Saturday from 7th January), and has completed a new commission, Jubilate Deo for St George's, Ascot (first performance 24th March 2012 in Eton College Chapel). Other forthcoming performances include: 20th January Eternal Light: A Requiem in King's College Chapel The Strand London (Billingshurst Choral Society, director George Jones).
28th January Eternal Light: A Requiem 'Come and Sing' Day St Michael & All Angels Turnham Green Chiswick London - in aid of Help for Heroes (Addison Singers, director David Wordsworth): IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THIS PERFORMANCE AS A SINGER FOLLOW THIS LINK, OR DOWNLOAD FLYER HERE.
29th January Love divine Theater Duisburg Germany (Musikverein Unna/Universitaetsorchester Essen, director Hermann Kruse), 6th February Love divine Philharmonie Essen Germany(Musikverein Unna/Universitaetsorchester Esse, director /Hermann Kruse), 17th March Eternal Light: A Requiem St Mary's Church Stockport (Manchester Bach Choir, director Jim Cooke), 24th March Love divine Stadthalle Unna Germany (Musikverein Unna/Universitaetsorchester Essen, director Hermann Kruse), 24th March Eternal Light: A Requiem United Reform Church Nuneaton (Atherstone Chorale, director Katherine Brookes), 24th March Eternal Light: A Requiem St Peter's Church Harrogate (Fisher Singers, director Clive McClelland), 29th March Every Purpose Under the Heaven: The King James Bible Oratorio Arnold School Blackpool (director Daniel Chandler), 30th March Eternal Light: A Requeim Southwell Minster (Southwell Choral Society, director Nicholas Thorpe), 31st March Eternal Light: A Requiem United Reformed Church Hinckley (Hinckley Choral Union, director Richard Archer), 11th & 12th April Eternal Light: A Requiem Cadogan Hall London (Barts Choir, director Ivor Setterfield).
2011
Sunday, 13th November, in Westminster Abbey, at 18.30, the world première of Howard's Every Purpose Under the Heaven: The King James Bible Oratorio, conducted by the composer. The work was commissioned by Sir Ewan and Lady Harper to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible and was performed by school choirs from the United Church Schools Trust, with soloists Kirsty Hopkins and Noah Stewart. It is scored for string orchestra, piano, harp, guitar, cornet and percussion and is published by Faber Music. The conclusion of the oratorio prompted a spontaneous standing ovation throughout the Abbey. Further details here: King James Bible Oratorio at Westminster Abbey.
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Some Autumnal performances of Howard's works: The Dreaming at Speen Festival (8-10 September), Veni, Sancte Spiritus at Sarratt Festival (23 September), Eternal Light: A Requiem Plymouth Park United Methodist Church, Irving TX, USA (16 October), Girlfriends Splott AOS St Teilo's High School Cardiff, Wales (27-29 October), Eternal Light: A Requiem Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church Houston TX, USA (30 October), Eternal Light: A Requiem at Bath Abbey (5 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem Årsta Kyrksal Stockholm Sweden (5 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem Davidson United Methodist Church, Davidson, NC, USA (6 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem Kista Church Stockholm Sweden (6 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, TX, USA (9 November, 2 performances in one day), Eternal Light: A Requiem Llanrindod Wells, Powys, Wales (12 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem St George's Bristol (12 November), St Mary's Church Causeway Horsham, Christ's Hospital Choral Society (12 November), Eternal Light: A Requiem Methodist Central Hall Coventry The Musical and Amicable Society (26 November), A Winter's Tale Civic Hall Stratford-upon-Avon (1-3 December), Eternal Light: A Requiem St Mary's Church Wedmore Somerset (10 December).
The Hired Man, Howard and Melvyn Bragg's 1984 musical, revived in a production directed by Andrew Keates, enjoyed a stunning success at Clapham's Landor Theatre throughout August.
It has been nominated for 10 Off-West-End awards:- BEST PRODUCTION - BEST DIRECTOR (Andrew Keates) - BEST MUSICAL DIRECTOR (Niall Bailey) - BEST LIGHTING DESIGN (Howard Hudson) - BEST DESIGN (Freya Groves) - BEST SOUND DESIGN (Sarah Weltman) - BEST ACTOR (Joe Maxwell, Sean Paul Jenkinson) -BEST ACTRESS (Catherine Mort, Abigail Matthews). Here's a selection of reviews:
Mark Shenton The Stage : Edward Seckerson The Independent : Miriam Gillinson The Guardian : Theo Bosanquet What's on Stage
Ian Foster The Public Reviews : West End Geek : There ought to be clowns : Sandra Giorgetti British Theatre Guide
Howard was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live May 7th and on Your Desert island Discs on June 11th. He attended a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen celebrating young people and the arts on May 9th. He has just completed an oratorio for the United Church Schools Trust to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible which will receive its premiere, conducted by the composer, in Westminster Abbey on 13th November. He was present on Saturday June 18th at the premiere of his new choral work for 4 choirs (in 4 languages!) A new Heart, a New Spirit commissioned by Truro Cathedral in Cornwall. He was one of the contributing interviewers in BBC 2's Arena Special 'Produced by George Martin' in April. He collected his CBE from HRH Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace in June.
7th June - 1st July All Star Productions presented a revival of Howard's 1986 musical Girlfriends at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre Walthamstow
Some reviews here & here & here & here & here & here
Further details here.
Howard's 1999 musical with Charles Hart, The Kissing-Dance enjoyed in March & April a highly successful sell-out run at the Jermyn Street Theatre.
Guardian review (Lyn Gardner) can be found here. The Stage review (Mark Shenton) here. BroadwayWorld review here. The Spectator review (Kate Maltby) here.
GarethJames' blog review here. rageoffstage review here. extra!extra! review here. the public reviews here.
Kissing-Dance YouTube Channel here. Twitter page here. Facebook page here.
January 2011
In the Queen's New Year Honours, it was announced that Howard is to be awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) for services to Music Education
Love Story earnt 3 Olivier Award nominations, Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical & Best Actor in a Musical
January 2011: Love Story Original London Cast CD is released. It can be ordered here (Dress Circle), here (Faber Music) here (SoundofMusic in Germany, in euros) and here (iTunes). It is also available at amazon but they are currently displaying the wrong price!
The sheet music for all the songs in the show is now available for digital download here.
Chichester reviews can be found here. Edward Seckerson's review of the London production is here.
Howard attended a 3-day festival of concerts devoted to his choral music, Opus 5, in Groningen, Leeuwarden and Utrecht, Holland, from 4th-6th February.
Howard's series of interviews with eminent musicians on SkyArts 2/HD, Music Room, began airing in November. More details here and here.
Howard's audio-visual explanations of the musical context of the Ballets Russes were seen as part of the V & A Museum's exhibition,
DIAGHILEV AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE BALLETS RUSSES 1909-1929
UK Political News 12th May: see second news item here
Daily Mail Saturday 26th June: see Sing Up item here
May 10th: the release of the third Enchanted Voices CD: Pelican in the wilderness: Songs from the Psalms
PELICAN IN THE WILDERNESS PAGE HERE
More PELICAN IN THE WILDERNESS details from Classic fm here
Howard's best-selling Classic fm CD 'Enchanted Voices' was one of the nominations for 'CD of the Year' in this year's ns&i Classical Brits awards.
In the Gramophone Specialist Classical Chart of the top 100 CDs of 2009, Howard's three most recent CDs came in at numbers 1, 4 and 9 (Enchanted Voices, Enchanted Carols & Eternal Light: A Requiem respectively). In addition, Enchanted Voices won a Gramophone Award (Specialist Classical Chart Award). The CD, released in March, was no.1 of the chart for 23 weeks.
May 17th saw the release of The Seasons, Howard's new suite from the ITV Series, on EMI Classics, played by Bozidar Vutovic & The Tippett Quartet
More details from EMI Classics here
Howard's new piece for orchestra, organ, narrator and young voices, commissioned by the 2010 Brighton Festival, The Selfish Giant, received its world premiere on the first day of the festival, May 1st. Howard conducted the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra with the Brighton Festival Youth Chorus.
More info can be found here.
10 June - 3rd July 2010 at the Octagon Theatre Bolton, directed by David Thacker:
The ensemble for this production won the TMA Award for Best Performance in a Musical 2010
[For a regular list of forthcoming performances of all Howard's published works, click here]
Howard was Chair of the Judges for the Finals of the BBC Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year, held in London's Royal Festival Hall, broadcast on 11th, 18th & 25th April.
On March 4th & 5th Howard was keynote speaker in Minneapolis at the American Choral Directors Association North Central Conference 2010, 'A Community That Sings'
Howard is honoured to receive the 2009 Karl Haas Prize for Music Education, awarded by the Klassix Society–Friends of 88.7KXMS / Fine Arts Radio International of Missouri Southern State University
As National Amabassador for Singing, Howard spent 24th February, the first National Sing-Up Day, giving radio interviews throughout the day and presenting Archbishop Sumner C of E Primary School in Kennington, London their Sing Up Platinum Award. He gave keynote speeches at the Sing Up National Gathering in Manchester (22nd January), Sing Up London (4th Feb), Rugby School Arnold Foundation (9th February), and Lincolnshire Primary Headteachers conference (26th February).
On 25th March in London's Royal Festival Hall Howard was present at the world premiere of his specially-commissioned work for large choir and orchestra, The Pearl, marking the 140th anniversary of Coloma Convent Girls' School, Croydon. Coloma Convent is a voluntary-aided Roman Catholic comprehensive school with Specialist Music College Status. Its outstanding head of music and the conductor for the 25th March concert is Hilary Meyer.
Eternal Light: A Requiem was Faber Music's most performed classical work in 2009 (102 live performances), including American and Australian premieres.
Recent performances include Billingshurst Choral Society (20th March), The Addision Singers, Turnham Green London (20th March),The Questors Choir Ealing (20th March), Lady Eleanor Holles & Hampton Schools Choral Society (20th March), The 1885 Singers All Saints Church Putney (21st March), Waterfront Hall Belfast, The Choirs of the Methodist College Belfast (25th March), First United Methodist Church Moorestown New Jersey (28th March), Birmingham Symphony Hall, with the CBSO, CBSO Youth Chorus, Alfie Boe & Natasha Marsh, conducted by Simon Halsey (30th March & 1st April: Howard gave a pre-concert talk on 30th March), St James' Piccadilly: The Grove Singers (10th April), The Sage, Gateshead, Northern Sinfonia & Northern Sinfonia Chorus, conducted by Simon Halsey (24th April), Cadogan Hall, London: Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford with Oxford Philomusica, conducted by Stephen Darlington (6th May), St Alban's Cathedral & Abbey: Christ Church cathedral Choir, Oxford, conducted by Stephen Darlington (15th May).
Howard wrote the music & lyrics for A Song of Hope, specially commissioned by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for its first performance at the National Holocaust Memorial Event, The Legacy of Hope, on January 27th in the Great Hall of the City of London Guildhall. He conducted a choir from Lady Margaret School, Fulham with the Aurora Orchestra. 200 Holocaust survivors attended the event.
2009 Round-up
Howard and his Enchanted Voices group performed live (Enchanted Carols) at Lichfield Cathedral on Dec 10th and at Rochester Cathedral on Dec 16th, and Howard appeared with the Enchanted Voices on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday 15th December. He is also appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 3's In Tune on Friday 18th December and on BBC Radio 4's Midweek on Wednesday 23rd December.
He was interviewed for the BBC TWO documentary Not again...Not the Nine O'Clock News and for the BBC FOUR documentary For Art's sake - the story of the Ballets Russes. His 2008 documentary The Truth about Carols was repeated on BBC FOUR Sunday 20th December.
Howard's score for the short seasonal film Dog Alone, directed by Lia Williams and scripted by Guy Hibbert, was shown on Sky TV on Boxing Day.
Howard won an MIA (Music Industries Association) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music Education
Howard's score for the HBO/Ridley Scott/Rainmark film, Into the Storm, won him an EMMY® award. The 61st Emmy Creative Arts Awards took place on Saturday 12th September at the NOKIA Theatre in Hollywood. Howard won the category 'Outstanding Music Score for a movie, mini-series or special (Best Dramatic Score)'
Howard won Composer of the Year (for Eternal Light: A Requiem) in the 2009 BPI Classical Brits Awards. The Classical Brits 2009 awards ceremony took place at the Royal Albert Hall on May 14th and was televised by ITV1 on May 19th. The other nominees in the Composer of the Year category were Nigel Hess and Steve Reich.
Howard is Classic FM's Composer in Residence and hosts a weekly show on Saturdays at 13.00, Howard Goodall On....
In September as part of the BBC Proms' Sing Up day, Howard introduced the Proms Intro event at the Royal College of Music
Howard's musical A Winter's Tale is one of the flagships 2009-10 productions for Youth Music Theatre: UK, beginning with a highly successful run at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford in August
A 25th anniversary production of The Hired Man was also mounted by National Youth Music Theatre in Hull in August.
This news April 2009 from 'Total Sci-fi': "Doctor Who has been declared the winner of Total Sci-Fi's poll to find out the best sci-fitheme tune of all time. Readers voted from a shortlist of 10 iconic theme tunes. Howard Goodall's theme to the much-loved sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf came in second place, while Mark Snow's eerie title music for The X-Files rounded out the top three."
Howard's BBC TV special on the Making of Handel's Messiah was broadcast on Good Friday (April 10th).
[News Archive 2004-8 can be found here]
[Recent press articles by and about Howard can be found here]