"Canzoni et Ricercari" was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society for the 2021 Cheltenham Music Festival, and is scored for onstage string ensemble of 9 players and 3 offstage violins. The fractious relationship between these two groups is at the heart of the piece. There are two movements of roughly equal length, each building to a climax in a different way, and each involving canons or ricercars on some level, hence the Frescobaldi-inspired title. The atmosphere is sometimes solemn, sometimes playful, and sometimes a bit of both.

Recorded live by the 12 Ensemble in Gloucester Cathedral on 9th July 2021 as part of the Cheltenham Music Festival.

Canzoni et ricercari (for 12 string players)

This piece, written for a project celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Music, honours one of its alumni: the brilliant composer Giles Swayne, who studied there in the late 1960s. Giles, my former composition teacher and current friend, has shown me extraordinary kindness and generosity over many years. I have written this piece by small way of thanks.

I. motto
II. adagio
III. scherzo
IV. aria
V. hoedown

Violin: José Cabrita Matias
Recording engineer: Tania Neacsu

Message-Fragments in Honour of Giles Swayne (for solo violin)

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Ryan Wigglesworth

[excerpt from] Symphonic Message in memory of L. R.

I. Berceuse
II. Scherzo (...take a walk)
III. Adagio ("Das Lebewohl")

Movements for Philip Sharp (for solo piano)

Performed by the Chapel Choir of Eton College conducted by Tim  Johnson

Audi filia et vide: British Choral and Organ Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Evening Proverb (for Tenors and Basses)

Text compiled from poems by Vahan Terian

I (from “Fate”)
Like the stars, you and I are tied together by dreams.

II (Little melody 1)

III (from “Ararat”)
Earthbound, soaring, floating,
you are an angel winged in light.
You are not matter, you are flight

IV (Little melody 2)

V (from “To An Unknown Girl”)
Light is failing, night is falling.
House to house the dark comes calling.
A stranger walks toward me, alone,
her face familiar as my own.

VI (Scales 1)

VII (from “Ghosts”)
you and I
I am you.
And perhaps neither of us exists.

VIII (Scales 2)

IX (from “Words At Farewell”)
Without tears, without sobs, though you mourn,
let it go, let it flow to the past.

Imaginary Lover (for Tenor and Piano)

Cello Messages (Mvt. III)

Cello Messages (Mvt. IV)

Cello Messages (Mvt. V)

Jonathan Woolgar draws from a wide range of musical experience to create work that is communicative without compromise.

Jonathan’s music has been performed at the Wigmore Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Royal Albert Hall and Basilica San Marco, Venice by Manchester Camerata, Onyx Brass, Aurora Orchestra and the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, as well as broadcast several times on BBC Radio 3. In 2010 he won the BBC Proms Young Composers’ Competition. His music has been recorded for commercial release by the chapel choirs of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and Eton College, and he also enjoys close associations with contemporary music ensembles The Hermes Experiment and Kantegh. Jonathan was Composer in Residence and composition teacher at Eton College for 2015-17 and Composer in Residence at Cambridge University Musical Society for 2016-17. His one-woman opera, Scenes from the End, ran to great acclaim in London and Edinburgh in 2016, and recent projects have included premieres at the Liszt Academy, Budapest in November 2018 and at the Wigmore Hall in May 2019. Jonathan is currently writing a new piece for the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the Panufnik Young Composers Scheme, as well as a new commission for soprano Heloise Werner which will tour the UK in late 2019/early 2020.

Whilst currently based near London, Jonathan originally hails from Pontefract in West Yorkshire. He attended Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester from 2008-10, studying composition and conducting with Jeremy Pike and Gavin Wayte. From 2010-13 he read music at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge where he graduated with First Class Honours and studied composition with Giles Swayne, before going on to study with David Sawer at the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently studying for a PhD with Julian Anderson at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Jonathan Woolgar

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