- Andrew Penny
The conductor, Andrew Penny was born in Hull and graduated from the
Royal Northern College of Music followingclarinet studies with Sydney Fell. As a postgraduate he was the first holder of the Rothschild Scholarship in Conducting, studying with SirCharles Groves and Timothy Reynish. He worked with Sir Edward Downes in Holland and later at theBBC Conductors' Seminar in 1985.Until 2006 he had been Musical Director of the
Hull Philharmonic Orchestra from 1982, the Head ofWoodwind atHymers College since 1978 and he also directed the Conductors' Course at theUniversity of Hull for many years. In November 1999 he directed two performances ofGustav Mahler 's Symphony No. 8, (The Symphony of a Thousand) as part of theMillennium Celebrations in that city.Now Andrew Penny has made over thirty recordings for the Naxos and Marco Polo labels. Most of the output is of British music: symphonies and symphonic works by
Sir Malcolm Arnold ,Hubert Parry ,Cecil Gibbs andHavergal Brian ; film music byVaughan Williams andWilliam Walton ; theatre music by Sullivan, German and Holbrooke together withlight music by Joyce, Duncan and Coates. He has now completed recording the full cycle of Malcolm Arnold's nine symphonies.As well as this impressive contribution to
British music , Andrew Penny has also conducted a recording of Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in D-minor "played with ear-catching brilliance and joie de vivre" according to "Gramophone (magazine) " and recipient of their coveted Critics' Choice award. In the Gramophone Awards of 1999, the Editor's Choice Award was made to twenty-two Naxos discs as an outstanding contribution to twentieth century British music. Three of these releases were conducted by Andrew Penny.
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