Christopher Ward (conductor)

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Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward (born 18 March 1980) is a British conductor.[1][2] In August 2018 he became the Music Director of Theater Aachen.[3]

Career[]

Christopher Ward studied at Oxford University (Musicology) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London (Conducting and Piano).[1] During this time, he worked with and Chorus, Oxford Bach Choir, New Chamber Opera and The Arcadian Singers.[citation needed]

In 2003, Ward was awarded the position of Répétiteur Fellow at Scottish Opera and the RSAMD, Glasgow, working with Sir Richard Armstrong, Richard Farnes, and Timothy Dean.[citation needed]

In 2004, Ward spent a period working at the at Zürich Opera.[citation needed]

Christopher Ward moved to Germany in 2005 to work as Kapellmeister at Staatstheater Kassel. Working as music staff on a range of repertoire, he led productions of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, Porpora's Il Gedeone, Loewe's My Fair Lady, Weill's Die Sieben Todsünden, Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Krenek's Das Geheime Königreich, the world premiere of Beaudoin's Himmelfahrt, Rotkäppchen, Lauf! (Müller-Wieland's Rotkäppchens Schlaflied, Schmitt's Im Korb, Kühnl's In Rotkäppchens Bett, Seither's Der helle Rand von Furcht und Erwachen), Gershwin's Blue Monday, Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti, Martinu's Hlas Lesa and Streul's Spuk im Händelhaus, and conducted performances of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Händel's Hercules, Lehár's Der Graf von Luxemburg, Suppé's Banditenstreiche and Porter's Anything Goes. During this time, he has also conducted the Staatsorchester Kassel in a range of concerts as well as directing the theatre's annual youth orchestra project (TJO).[citation needed]

In 2006, Ward assisted Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in a production of Wagner's Das Rheingold at the . He continued this association in Berlin and Salzburg (Easter Festival 2007).[citation needed]

From 2009 to 2013, Christopher Ward was Kapellmeister and Assistant to Kent Nagano at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He led new productions of Rossini's La Cenerentola, Haydn's and Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen, and world premieres of Eötvös' , Ronchetti's Narrenschiffe and Srnka's Make No Noise (opening the with Ensemble Modern). Moreover, he conducted concerts with the , the Opera Studios of Munich and , Orchesterakademie and .[citation needed]

As guest conductor, he has directed performances at the Hamburgische Staatsoper (Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro"), Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Verdi's "La Traviata"), Komische Oper, Berlin (Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro"), Staatstheater Braunschweig (Verdi's "Rigoletto"), Salzburger Landestheater (Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia"), Musiktheater im Revier Gelsenkirchen ('s Samson et Dalila), Staatstheater Mainz (Verdi's Un ballo in maschera), (Verdi's La Traviata), Theater Augsburg (Puccini's La Bohème), Staatstheater Darmstadt (Puccini's Madama Butterfly) and Hochschule für Musik Saar (Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride) as well as conducting concerts with the Staatsorchester Braunschweig, , and orchestras. He recently directed the world premiere of Ľubica Čekovská's opera Dorian Gray as part of 2013 at the Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava, performing it also at the Prague Spring International Music Festival 2015.[4]

In 2014, Christopher Ward became 1st Kapellmeister at the Saarländisches Staatstheater.[citation needed] Here he has already led new productions of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortilèges and Daphnis et Chloé, Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, Haas' Bluthaus, Rameau's Platée, Dvořák's Rusalka, Verdi's Rigoletto and several new ballet productions (Grieg's/Sæverud's Peer Gynt, , ). He has also conducted a range of symphonic concerts as well as performances of Donizetti's Lucia da Lammermoor, Verdi's Macbeth and Un ballo in maschera, and Mozart's Don Giovanni.[citation needed]

In the 2016/17 season, he conducts new productions of Weber's Der Freischütz and Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, a ballet evening including Stravinsky's Pulcinella as well as revivals of Verdi's Falstaff and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.[citation needed]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Christopher Ward". Viena Music Connection. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Christopher Ward". Operabase. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  3. ^ Nachrichten, Aachener. "Aachen: Aachens neuer Generalmusikdirektor feiert seine Opernpremiere im Theater". Aachener Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. ^ "Contemporary Music – Lubica Cekovska". Retrieved 20 August 2020.

External links[]

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