News & Recent Engagements 2007-8
15th October 2008: Howard was honoured at the 28th Annual ASCAP Awards held in London for his Mr Bean's Holiday score (most performed works by British composers in the USA 2007)
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Available now on iTunes & CD: 5099921504723 and digital download: 5099921504754 EMI Classics
VISIT THE WEBSITE: www.eternallightrequiem.com
September saw the release of the EMI Classics Recording of Howard's Eternal Light: A Requiem, for soloists, choir, keyboards & strings, commissioned by London Musici, published by Faber Music. It will also be performed in a dance version by the Rambert Dance Company on tour in the UK during the Autumn & Winter, choreographed by Mark Baldwin, designed by Michael Howells. The choir is Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, directed by Stephen Darlington. Soloists on the EMI CD are Alfie Boe, Natasha Marsh and Christopher Maltman. It has been in the Classic Fm Top 30 since its release.
See the E-flier about the ballet here
Article for Sunday Times Culture by Howard about writing for dance (21st Sept)
Article for Guardian Music by Howard about writing a modern requiem (26th Sept)
EMI Classics page announcing Eternal Light: A Requiem
Rambert Dance Company web page on Eternal Light
Rambert Dance Company PRESS RELEASE (16th June 2008) announcing Eternal Light.
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Howard is Classic FM's Composer in Residence for 2008-9 and presents a weekly show on Saturdays at 13.00, Howard Goodall On....
He is currently filming a BBC TV special for Christmas, The Truth about Carols
Howard's The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23) is featured on Katherine Jenkins' new CD Sacred Arias
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[Recent press articles by and about Howard can be found here]
[News Archive 2004-6 can be found here]
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Howard's new BBC Radio 2 series, Howard Goodall's Class Acts, featuring exceptional young musicians in British music schools & arts colleges aired on Friday evenings during September & October. Visit the Class Acts website here
Howard was Kirsty Young's Desert Island Discs Castaway on Sunday 25th May, on BBC Radio 4
On June 26th he was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of Bolton
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The Hired Man in New York: June 5th - 29th Brits Off Broadway festival
The show received a clean sweep of excellent
reviews in New York. Reviews can be found here
The Hired Man UK tour directed by Daniel Buckroyd New Perspectives Theatre Company from September 07 to March 08
Reviews of this tour can be found on the
Hired Man page here.
A new CD of this production can be ordered from Dress Circle here.
A new Double CD of Howard and Charles Hart's 1999 musical The Kissing-Dance is now available. Copies may be ordered by email here (£13 each).
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The Hired Man revival set in Pembrokeshire, reopened the Torch Theatre Milford Haven in March, after a 2-year refurbishment. It was directed by Peter Doran and was a sell-out.
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Howard's 1986 musical Girlfriends had its Dutch premiere on June 20th at Fontys Hogeschool (Academy). The show was directed by Jos Dom (staging & acting) and Jack Breikers (vocal coaching). The team also included Hans Sleurink (Dutch translation) and Linda Lepomme (artistic management & production), who were responsible for the outstanding 2001 Flanders Royal Ballet production of The Hired Man.
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Howard wrote a new anthem, Music, Sister of Sunrise, to be performed at the excellent! gala concert at Sadler's Wells Theatre on July 15th. Excellent! was a special event to celebrate the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF) Music and Dance Scheme, and the achievements of the country’s most talented young dancers and musicians.
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Howard's new commission for Julian Lloyd Webber and the Chipping Campden Music Festival, And the bridge is love, premiered at St James' Church in Chipping Campden on May 21st. Thomas Hull conducted the Festival Academy Orchestra. It was followed by performances at Birmingham Town Hall with students of Birmigham Conservatoire in June, with the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra at Linlithgow (19th August ) Stirling ( 20th August ) and Edinburgh (21st August). A review of it in the Independent can be found here.
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On Tuesday 16th January at the Music Manifesto's State of Play conference at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP, the then Secretary of State for Education & Skills announced Howard's appointment as 'ambassador' for singing in England, with a £10m budget to fund a national singing campaign aimed at primary schools over four years. On November 21st the public aspect of the singing campaign, Sing Up (www.singup.org) was launched, along with announcements by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Families and Schools, and Lord Adonis, Schools Minister, of the Government's 3-year commitment to music education: a total of £332 million specifically ear-marked for music in schools, including an additional £30m for the National Singing Programme. This is the highest such settlement in British history. More on the National Singing Programme can be found here. Howard gives an update on the programme (Jan 30th) in a short video interview for the Music Manifesto here.
Howard was keynote speaker at the Music Learning Live! conference at The Sage Gateshead on January 30th. The speech can be read in transcription here, or heard on the Music Manifesto site here. He was keynote speaker at the ContinYou conference on March 18th, and the MMA Conference on May 10th.
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Howard's BBC Radio 2 seasonal special, Howard Goodall's Christmas Stocking, was transmitted on Sunday 23rd December. He also made a brief guest appearance in Griff Rhys Jones' BBC ONE programme Charles Dickens & the Invention of Christmas on the same day.
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At a ceremony at the Savoy hotel celebrating Educational Achievement in television on June 11th, Howard was accorded the great honour of the Royal Televison Society's Judges' Award (the final award of the evening) in recognition of a decade of exceptional TV series on music. All 6 series, from Howard Goodall's Organworks to How Music Works, were made by Tiger Aspect Productions for Channel 4. Also present to mark the award were the series' producer-directors David Jeffcock and Frank Hanly, C4 commissioning editor Jan Younghusband, C4 Head of Learning Janey Walker, and Executive producer Paul Sommers.
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The 2006 Voice of the Listener & Viewer Naomi Sargant Memorial Award has been awarded to Howard 'For Outstanding Contribution to Education in Broadcasting'. Jan Younghusband, Commissioning Editor for Arts & Performance at Channel 4 collected this award on Howard’s behalf at a ceremony at the Royal National Hotel on 19th April.
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Howard is also the recipient of the 2007 Making Music/Sir Charles Groves Prize for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. This prestigious prize is now in its 17th year. Previous recipients include The BBC Proms, Classic FM, the Royal Northern College of Music, the Edinburgh International Festival, Birmingham City Council, Joanna McGregor, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Philip Langridge, The Lindsays, and, last year, Glastonbury Festival. Making Music, formerly the National Federation of Music Societies, is the UK's largest organisation supporting and promoting voluntary music-making, with over 2,400 member groups.
All Howard's awards are listed here.
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Howard completed the score for MR BEAN'S HOLIDAY earlier this year and is currently working on a new musical, LOVE STORY, with writer Stephen Clark, based on Erich Segal's best-selling novella, to be produced in 2008.
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At a ceremony on 25th October 2006 at the Savoy Hotel, the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters presented Howard with their coveted Gold Badge Award for exceptional service in support of British composers and songwriters. He was honoured in July with a Doctorate in Music by Bishop Grosseteste University College, Lincoln & the University of Leicester, for outstanding services to music education.
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Howard's musical Days of Hope was revived in a professional production at London's celebrated King's Head Theatre 13th March - 22nd April. The production was directed by TMA Barclays Theatre Award winner Russell Labey and starred David Burt, Siobhan McCarthy, Aimie Atkinson (2006 BBC Radio 2 Voice of Musical Theatre winner), Simon Thomas, Matt Cross, Victoria Yeates & James Russell. The production website with booking details etc is here.
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Howard's The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) is featured on Alfie Boe's new CD onward
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Howard's songs for William Shakespeare's As you like it were featured in Samuel West's 2007 production of the play for the Sheffield Crucible, which transferred in March to Stratford-on-Avon as part of the RSC's complete works project.
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