Musical Director

Ralph Woodward was born and educated in Durham. He spent four years as Organ Scholar at Queens’ College, Cambridge. While there, he conducted the Chapel Choir’s first two CDs and gave world premieres of numerous works. These included three pieces by Stanford, one of which he edited for publication.

Now a freelance conductor and keyboard player, Ralph has a wide performing repertoire, particular specialisms being the music of Bach and Mozart, the French Baroque and Scandinavian music.

Ralph is Musical Director of the Fairhaven Singers, Full Score and the Northumbrian Recorder and Viol School. He has worked in over 20 countries, and has conducted the London Mozart Players, The Parley of Instruments, Britten Sinfonia and Cambridge Baroque Camerata. He carries out a wide range of editorial tasks for Oxford University Press, with particular involvement in the William Walton Edition, and is much in demand as a leader of choral workshops. His choral arrangements are also successful, and have been performed all round Europe and on Radio 4’s PM programme.

Past projects have included work with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christopher Hogwood, Emma Johnson and James Bowman. 2010 saw him conducting in Germany, writing and directing choral arrangements for two albums by the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth, and taking choirs to Venice and Rome. Forthcoming engagements include work in Bristol, Worcestershire and Lisbon.