Guy Woolfenden

Woolfenden was born in Ipswich and educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, London, and Whitgift School, Croydon. He studied music at Christ's College in Cambridge and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He subsequently played horn with the Sadler's Wells Opera.

In 1961 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he was Head of Music from 1963 until 1998. One of the first productions he was involved with there was The Wars of the Roses cycle of Shakespeare plays produced by Peter Hall and John Barton in 1964, for which he created special instruments. In 1976 he composed the score for Trevor Nunn’s musical version of The Comedy of Errors, which transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in 1977.[2] The adaptation won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.

Woolfenden was Artistic Director of the Cambridge Festival from 1986 to 1991.[3] In 1995 he was a founder director of the English Music Festival which became the Stratford on Avon Music Festival. He was the Chairman of the Denne Gilkes Memorial Fund, a charity which supports young musicians and actors. Woolfenden conducted three productions with the Scottish Opera, as well as the first British productions of Nielsen's Saul and David, Tchaikovsky's Maid of Orleans and Liszt's Don Sanche. He was the founder of the publishing company, Ariel Music.

Woolfenden was awarded the OBE for his services to music in the New Year Honours List in 2007.[4] He married Jane Aldrick in 1962 and they had three sons.[2]

He composed around 150 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company, including scores for every Shakespeare play.[5] He also composed incidental music for major European theatre companies, including the Comédie-Française, Paris; the Burgtheater, Vienna; the Teatro di Stabile, Genoa; and the Norwegian National Theatre, Oslo. His film scores include Work Is a Four-Letter Word (1968) and the 1968 movie version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as the 1974 television version of Antony and Cleopatra.

There are also many concert pieces for wind bands, chamber ensembles and some orchestral works, a number of which have been recorded. An example is the Clarinet Concerto, written in 1985 to mark Jack Brymer’s seventieth birthday, and performed by Brymer at Warwick Arts Centre on 9th March 1985, with the Beauchamp Sinfonietta conducted by the composer.[6] It's been recorded by Ian Scott and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Gavin Sutherland.[7]

(for wind band, unless otherwise stated)

• Gallimaufry (1983)
• Illyrian Dances (1986)
• S.P.Q.R (1988)
• Mockbeggar Variations (1991)
• Suite Française for woodwind ensemble (1991)
• Curtain Call (1997)
• French Impressions (1998)
• Bassoon Concerto with full orchestra, or piano (1999)
• Rondo Variations for clarinet and wind ensemble (1999)
• Serenade for Sophia (Serenade No. 1) for wind dectet (2001)
• Firedance (2002)
• Celebration (2003)
• Bohemian Dances (2005)
• Divertimento in three movements (2007)
• Reflections (Serenade No. 2) for wind dectet (2008)

• Ariel Music Website