Orlando Gough

Orlando Gough
Orlando Gough after the closing ceremony of Stavanger 2008

Orlando Gough (pronounced /ˈɡɒf/[1]; born 1953) is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh and Ashley Page of The Royal Ballet. He is artistic director of The Shout, which he founded in 1998 with Richard Chew. The choir won the Time Out Award for Classical Artist of the Year in 2001. He released one album titled Message from the Border that was released on Catalyst/BMG Records. His 2001 commission from Fretwork, called 'Birds on Fire' was recorded by them for Harmonia Mundi under the same title and was released in 2008. He composed the music for the closing ceremony of the 2008 European Capital of Culture, Stavanger. Members of the choir include Carol Grimes, Melanie Pappenheim and Manickam Yogeswaran. In 2010 the Turner Contemporary commissioned Gough to compose a work for its opening ceremonies: "The Red Volcano" - for community choir and orchestra, had its World Premiere in April 2011 conducted by Anthony Castro.

Gough first came to prominence on the British music scene in the early 1980s as a co-founder of minimalist music ensemble The Lost Jockey. It was initially set up to perform the works of 'systems music' composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass. However, before long it switched to compositions by the group's own composers, of whom Gough was one of the most active. In live concerts (as well as on a BBC Radio broadcast) he performed on piano, keyboards and tuned percussion. Around 1984 the ever-growing (and increasingly unmanageable) ensemble slimmed down to a septet called Man Jumping, again featuring Gough - who contributed several compositions to their two critically acclaimed albums.

Gough's music for opera includes The Mathematics of a Kiss (a 1989 short TV opera composed with Man Jumping cohort John Lunn), Critical Mass (2007, Almeida Opera), and The Finnish Prisoner (premiered in 2007 by a cast including members of the Finnish National Opera). In 2010 Gough was commissioned to write a short opera for the Royal Opera House's ROH2 OperaShots initiative. The result was A Ring a lamp a thing with a libretto by Caryl Churchill.[2]

Gough, a mathematics graduate, authored the 1987 book The Complete Advanced Level Mathematics. He is married to knitwear designer, Joanna Osborne, co-author of several knitting books, and has two sons, Daniel and Milo. His older brother is the architect Piers Gough whilst his other older brother, Adam Jamie Gough, is an academic at the University of Sheffield.[3]

References

  1. ^ John Wells, "A visit from Orlando". John Wells's phonetic blog, 13 April 2011
  2. ^ O'Mahony, John. "Operas about wags? Why not, says the Royal Opera House". The Guardian, 10 June 2010
  3. ^ "Jamie Gough - Senior Lecturer in Town and Regional Planning". Retrieved 29 March 2011

External links