Andrew Ford: homepage

		Last updated: 11 June, 2009
Gary Rowley and Jacqueline Porter in Victorian Opera's Rembrandt's Wife Rembrandt's Wife - a critical success May 2009. The premiere season of Andrew Ford and Sue Smith's opera, Rembrandt's Wife has received considerable critical acclaim. The first full commission by Victorian Opera, the new work received five performances by the company under its music director, Richard Gill. Bass baritone Gary Rowley was “compelling and impressive” in the demanding central role of Rembrandt, Jacqueline Porter sang the twin roles of his late wife Saskia and his final muse, Hendrickje Stoffels (“truly a 21^st century Bathsheba”), mezzo-soprano Roxane Hislop was “glowing” and “riveting” and tenor Paul Biencourt brought “energy and individuality” to his six roles. Read more reviews. Read the libretto (pdf 111 KB) of Rembrandt's Wife by the award-winning TV writer Sue Smith (Bastard Boys, The Leaving of Liverpool, Brides of Christ). Freud's final hours on CD July 2008. July. Decca Eloquence has released on CD Andrew Ford’s music-theatre piece, Night and Dreams: the death of Sigmund Freud. Composed with librettist Margaret Morgan, for veteran tenor Gerald English, Night and Dreams is set in London in September 1939. We find the exiled Freud listening to gramophone records of Schubert and radio reports of Nazis in his homeland, dreaming of an unidentified naked girl and contemplating his death. English’s performance – a tour de force of acting and singing – was recorded by the ABC, and is coupled on this super-budget priced CD with Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon, recorded in 1973 with the London Sinfonietta. Read more. Buy the CD from the Buywell online CD store. The Music Show website: The Music Show book is out now March 2008. Talking to Kinky and Karlheinz is the title of a new book of interviews in which, as the subtitle has it, '170 musicians get vocal on The Music Show'. Ford has presented this radio program since 1995. Buy the book online or visit the special Online Companion to Talking to Kinky and Karlheinz. More Listen online: Dots on the Landscape is a six-part oral history of Australian classical music. Music and Fashion casts a far wider net, the programs ranging from the 12th-century composers of Notre Dame to Cyndi Lauper, from Andrea Bocelli to Elvis Presley, and from electronica to the Elizabethan volta. A wide selection of CDs with music by Andrew Ford is available from the Buywell online CD store. For a full list of CDs, please see also the CD subpage. Some of Andrew Ford's books are no longer available in bookshops. Contact Andrew directly to purchase a copy of In Defence of Classical Music or Speaking in Tongues - the Songs of Van Morrison (AUD 25 + postage). For a full list of books, please see the Books subpage. Latest additions to work list Bright Shiners for solo violin and string orchestra Rembrandt's Wife, an opera Symphony for orchestra A Singing Quilt for mixed choir, prerecorded voices and percussion ensemble The Tears of Geertje Dircx for two clarinets Golden Slumbers for voice and piano Chorales from an Ox Life for viola and double bass Domestic Advice for soprano and piano Lullaby and Fire Dance for two violins Bagpipe Music for recorder and harp Folly for solo piano Thin Air for solo piano Elegy in a Country Graveyard for chorus, band and backing track Headlong for orchestra Free sheet music downloads Thin Air for solo piano (pdf 188 KB) Broadway Boogie Woogie (pdf 150 KB) for solo piano Fear no more . . . (pdf 155 KB) for solo piano Ford's ANAM residency: three premieres in Melbourne February 2009. Andrew Ford is the composer in residence for 2009 at the Australian National Academy of Music. In addition to working with students in preparing performances of his music throughout the year, he will compose new works for them. These include Rauha (the Finnish word for ‘peace’) for wind band, piano, percussion and bass, and The Musical Child for string orchestra and piano duet, with a speaking role for the octogenarian tenor Gerald English. Based on a specially written text by Cathryn Strickland, The Musical Child is the cautionary tale of William Crotch, the late 18th-century child prodigy who, at the age of four, gave organ recitals in London, managed by his ambitious mother. On 23rd April the musicians of the Academy will present a portrait concert of Ford's music, including the Australian premieres of two works linked to the opera Rembrandt's Wife. These are the clarinet duet The Tears of Geertje Dircx and a new version (for viola, cello and double bass) of Chorales from an Ox Life. The concert also includes performance of Icarus drowning, conducted by the composer. Another highlight of the residency comes in September, when Brett Dean conducts the musicians of the Academy in the second performance of Ford’s Symphony, the work he premiered, to some acclaim, at ANAM in November 2008. Watch the premiere performance at The Music Page. Read program note. Read the libretto of Rembrandt's Wife (pdf 111 KB). A Singing Quilt in Bundanoon November 2008. On 1st November, Andrew Ford conducted the first performances of his piece for choir and percussion, A Singing Quilt. The piece was commissioned by Wingecarribee Shire Council and the performance involved nearly a hundred singers from choirs throughout the NSW Southern Highlands. Read what the Southern Highland News wrote (pdf 420 KB) about the event. Read a program note about the piece. Photographs High resolution promotional photographs for use in concert programs and other non-commercial contexts are now available on the biography subpage.

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