- Jeffrey Skidmore
Jeffrey Skidmore (believed to be born 1951) is the conductor and artistic director of
Ex Cathedra , achoir andearly music ensemble based inBirmingham in the West Midlands,England . An active participant in musical education and a pioneer in researching and performing neglected choral works of the 16th to 18th centuries, he has worked with leading musicologists to prepare new performing editions of French and Italian music. In particular, his recordings of French andLatin America nBaroque music with Ex Cathedra have won wide acclaim.Education and current activities
Jeffrey Skidmore was born in
Birmingham ,England in 1951, it is believed. [The year of his birth stated in this article is based on the fact that he was 18 years old when he founded Ex Cathedra in 1969: see citation|title=The artists|url=http://www.lufthansafestival.org.uk/2002/html/artists.html#Jeffrey_Skidmore|publisher=Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music|accessdate=2008-02-20; citation|title=Ex Cathedra Choir|url=http://www.ex-cathedra.org/about.php|publisher=Ex Cathedra |accessdate=2008-02-20.] Skidmore began conducting while still at school, and was only 18 years old when he founded the Ex Cathedrachoir in Birmingham in 1969. After going to Bournville Boys Technical School, later Bournville Grammar-Technical School for Boys, he went on to read music with David Wulstan at Magdalen College,University of Oxford , where he was achoral scholar under Bernard Rose.citation|title=The artists: Jeffrey Skidmore|url=http://www.lufthansafestival.org.uk/2002/html/artists.html#Jeffrey_Skidmore|publisher=Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music|accessdate=2008-02-20.] He then taught as a music school teacher in Birmingham.Directing the Ex Cathedra choir and its associated Ex Cathedra Consort and Baroque Orchestra, Skidmore has appeared in concert series and festivals across the UK and abroad, and has made a number of highly-acclaimed recordings. In addition, he regularly conducts other ensembles such as the
BBC Singers , theCity of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and theHanover Band . He has commissioned more than ten new works and conducted many world premières by well-established and newcomposer s, including Fyfe Hutchins,Gabriel Jackson , John Joubert,Daryl Runswick ,Peter Sculthorpe , Philip Sheppard,Peter Wiegold andRoderick Williams .In the field of
opera Skidmore worked withMarc Minkowski andDavid McVicker on the 2004 production of Eccles' "Semele" at theThéâtre des Champs-Élysées inParis ; and conducted Cavalli's "La Calisto ", Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas ", and Rameau's "Pigmalion" at theBirmingham Conservatoire ofBirmingham City University (formerly University of Central England). With Ex Cathedra he gave the first performances in modern times of the French Baroque operas "Zaïde, reine de Grenade " ("Zaïde, Queen of Grenada") by Royer and "Isis" by Lully.citation|title=Jeffrey Skidmore|url=http://www.ex-cathedra.org/jeffreyskidmore.php|publisher=Ex Cathedra |accessdate=2008-02-20.] Programme for Ex Cathedra's performance of John Joubert's "Wings of Faith" at The Oratory, Birmingham, on22 March 2007 .]Contributions to musicology and musical education
Skidmore is a pioneer in the field of research and performance of neglected choral works of the 16th to 18th centuries, and, in particular, has won wide acclaim for his recordings of French and
Latin America nBaroque music with Ex Cathedra forHyperion Records . An Honorary Fellow at the Birmingham Conservatoire and aresearch fellow at theUniversity of Birmingham , he has worked with many leading musicologists to prepare new performing editions of French and Italian music byGiovanni Animuccia ,Juan de Araujo ,Marc-Antoine Charpentier ,Michel Richard Delalande ,Claudio Monteverdi andJean-Philippe Rameau .Active in
music education , Skidmore is Artistic Director of Early Music and the Capelle Baroque Orchestra of the Birmingham Conservatoire, and director of Ex Cathedra's wide-reaching education programme. He frequently gives choral training workshops and teaches at summer schools in the UK and overseas. He has regularly directed the choral programme at Dartington International Summer School and was Classical Music Programmer for the 2005 Kilkenny Arts Festival. [citation|title=Latin American Vespers – Moon, Sun and All Things: Ex Cathedra; QuintEssential Sackbutt & Cornett Ensemble|url=http://www.kilkennyarts.ie/2005/classical_08.shtml|publisher=Kilkenny Arts Festival|year=2005|accessdate=2008-06-19]ee also
*
Ex Cathedra Notes
References
*citation|title=The artists: Jeffrey Skidmore|url=http://www.lufthansafestival.org.uk/2002/html/artists.html#Jeffrey_Skidmore|publisher=Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music|accessdate=2008-02-20.
*citation|title=Jeffrey Skidmore|url=http://www.ex-cathedra.org/jeffreyskidmore.php|publisher=Ex Cathedra |accessdate=2008-02-20.
*Programme for Ex Cathedra's performance of John Joubert's "Wings of Faith" at The Oratory, Birmingham, on22 March 2007 .Further reading
*citation|last=Dunnett|first=Roderic|title=Ex Cathedra, Lichfield Cathedral concert review|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article281434.ece|newspaper=
The Independent |date=2000-04-19 .
*citation|last=Church|first=Michael|title=The Jesuits invent fusion|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article209211.ece|newspaper=The Independent |date=2001-09-09 .
*citation|last=Northcott|first=Bayan|title=Ex Cathedra, St John's, Smith Square, London: Rome's genius resurrected|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article219579.ece|newspaper=The Independent |date=2002-02-01 .
*citation|last=Northcott|first=Bayan|title=Ex Cathedra/Skidmore, St John's, Smith Square, London: When world music met the Baroque preview of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music 2002|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article189759.ece|newspaper=The Independent |date=2002-05-24 .
*citation|last=Norris|first=Geoffrey|title=Dies Irae to didgeridoo review of the Lichfield Festival 2004|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/07/15/bmgn15.xml|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=2004-07-15 .
*citation|last=Stewart|first=Pat|title=Eastern Early Music Forum: Lalande day with Jeffrey Skidmore|url=http://www.eemf.org.uk/Lalande_Skidmore_published.htm|magazine=EEMF Newsletter 59|date=July 2005|accessdate=2007-04-08.
*citation|title=From the priest-hole era|url=http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=13703|newspaper=Church Times |date=2005-11-18 |issue=7445
*citation|last=Dunnett|first=Roderic|title=Ex Cathedra, Oratory, Birmingham review of "A Latin American Christmas" concert|url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/reviews/article333126.ece|newspaper=The Independent |date=2005-12-14 .
*citation|last=Morley|first=Christopher|title=The full Monte by candlelight: Ex Cathedra at Birmingham Oratory|url=http://icstafford.icnetwork.co.uk/tm_headline=the-full-monte-by-candlelight&method=full&objectid=19340211&siteid=50002-name_page.html|newspaper=Birmingham Post (reproduced at icStafford.co.uk)|date=2007-06-22 External links
* [http://www.ex-cathedra.org/jeffreyskidmore.php Jeffrey Skidmore at the website of Ex Cathedra]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Skidmore-Jeffrey.htm Jeffrey Skidmore at the Bach Cantatas website]
* [http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/artist_page.asp?name=skidmore Jeffrey Skidmore at the Hyperion Records website]
* [http://www.lacock.org/html/body_jeffrey_skidmore.htm Jeffrey Skidmore at the website of the Lacock Summer School, which conducts courses for singers and players of Renaissance and Baroque instruments]
* [http://www.lufthansafestival.org.uk/2002/html/artists.html Jeffrey Skidmore at the website of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music]
* [http://www.maylerartistmanagement.at/Ex%20Cathedra.htm Jeffrey Skidmore at the website of Mayler Artist Management]Persondata
NAME = Skidmore, Jeffrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = British conductor and musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH = 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH =Birmingham , West Midlands,England
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =
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