Paul Goodwin

Paul Goodwin is an English oboist and conductor, specialising in baroque and neo-baroque music.

He studied oboe with Janet Craxton and, following his graduation from Nottingham University with a degree in composition, specialised in contemporary oboe techniques and the baroque oboe at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He continued his studies in Vienna with Jurg Schäftlein. Goodwin is now professor of baroque and classical oboe at The Royal College of Music.

Goodwin is recognised as one of Britain's leading early oboe specialists and is principal oboist of The English Concert and The London Classical Players. His collection of period instruments spans two centuries and includes originals by Millhouse (1750), Collier (1780), Triebert (1810), Kuss (1835) and Moenig (1870).

He was appointed associate conductor of The Academy of Ancient Music in 1996 by Christopher Hogwood and made his BBC Proms debut in 1999 conducting them. He has been a driving force in the orchestra’s policy of commissioning works, conducting premieres of John Tavener’s Eternity’s Sunrise in 1998 and Total Eclipse in 2000. Tours followed of David Bedford’s Like a Strand of Scarlet in 2001 and John Woolrich’s Arcangelo in 2003, written to mark Corelli’s 350th anniversary, and Goodwin conducted the premiere of the AAM’s latest commission, by Thea Musgrave, in May 2006. His recordings with The Academy of Ancient Music include Christmas music by Schütz and his contemporaries, Mozart’s singspiel Zaïde and two recordings of music by John Tavener.

Paul Goodwin was the conductor of Jonathan Miller's staged version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. He now regularly conducts operas, including Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Il Re Pastore for Opera North, Handel’s Amadigi with the AAM at the Paris Opéra Comique, Handel’s Poro and Gluck’s Orfeo at the Opernhaus Halle, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Athens and many others.

He is a regular guest conductor in Europe and the USA, working with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre National de Belgique, Ulster Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many others. He has been the principal guest conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra.