Hailed by the Washington Post as an “up-and-coming conductor” and a “true
star” of the podium, conductor and cellist Kenneth Woods is quickly becoming
recognized as major talent on the international scene. He has worked with many
orchestras of international distinction including the National Symphony
Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the
Budapest Festival Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He
has also appeared on the stages of some of the world’s leading music festivals,
including Aspen, Lucerne, Round Top and Scotia. His work on the concert
platform and in the recording studio has led to numerous broadcasts on BBC
Radio 3, National Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In 2010, Woods takes up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the
Stratford-upon-Avon based virtuoso ensemble, Orchestra of the Swan, with
whom he will be active on stage and in recordings. As music director of the
Oregon East Symphony from 2000-9-, he transformed a tiny orchestra in a
remote, rural area into possibly the most talked-about orchestra in the Pacific
Northwest, winning universal praise for their nationally celebrated “Redneck
Mahler” cycle, progressive programming and their innovative youth programs.
Other affiliations include Conductor of the Contemporary Music Ensemble of
Wales, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra in
Portland, Oregon.
In September of 2009, Kenneth Woods made his recording debut as a conductor
in sessions for Avie Records with the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead.
Other recent highlights include first appearances at the Bridgewater Hall,
Menuhin Hall, Albert Hall, Royal Concert Hall of Nottingham and Bute Hall,
Glasgow. In America, his recent performance of Jennifer Higdon’s new Soprano
Saxophone Concerto at the Round Top Festival was recorded for NPR- a triumph
that led to his immediate invitation to return in 2009, where he led a gala concert
in celebration of the Haydn anniversary. His blog, A View from the Podium, has
become widely popular with music lovers in the UK, Canada and the US and
received wide acknowledgement from the music critics of the New Yorker, Wall
Street Journal, Independent and Gramophone.
Woods’ unique gifts were widely acknowledged early on by some of today’s
leading conductors. In the spring of 2001, Kenneth Woods was selected by
Leonard Slatkin as one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute
at the Kennedy Center. At the completion of the Institute, he led the National
Symphony Orchestra in a debut concert, drawing great critical acclaim and a
return invitation from the NSO. In the spring of 2000, David Zinman selected
Kenneth Woods from a pool of over 200 applicants to be a fellow in the inaugural
class of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. Toronto Symphony
Music Director Peter Oundjian has praised Woods as “a conductor with true
vision and purpose. He has a most fluid and clear style and an excellent
command on the podium… a most complete musician.”
Kenneth Woods has conducted critically praised productions of operas from
Britten to Puccini, and ballet scores as diverse as Giselle, the Nutcracker and
Firebird. Woods’ work as an active proponent of contemporary music includes
collaborations with composers including John Corigliano, Krystopf Penderecki,
Peter Lieberson and Oliver Knussen.
In 2005, he was asked by the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra to
found a new professional training institute for young conductors. In just four years
under his leadership, the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop has
become widely recognized as one of the leading training centers in the world for
young conductors, drawing students from the world’s leading conservatories and
nations as diverse as Argentina, Japan, Korea, Germany, Spain, Israel, Mexico,
Brazil, Russia and Canada. In 2009, the RCICW will be the subject of a major
documentary on American television.
As a cellist he has been recipient of the Aspen Fellowship (Mr. Woods has
received the Aspen Fellowship as both a cellist and conductor), the Dale Gilbert
Award (the only musician to win this award in consecutive years), the Strelow
Quartet Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency
Grant and has recorded and toured extensively as soloist and chamber
musician. He has played chamber music with members of the Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Cincinnati,
Chicago and Toronto symphonies, and the Minnesota, Gewandhaus and
Concertgebow orchestras. He was founding cellist of the National Endowment
for the Arts recognized Taliesin Trio, and of the Masala Quartet, who have
recorded for Vienna Modern Masters and appeared at festivals and concert
series’ in the US and Europe. He is currently cellist of the string trio Ensemble
Epomeo, with whom he performs regularly in the UK, Europe and the USA.
Mr. Woods pursued his advanced conducting studies as a fellowship student at
the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and also studied at
leading summer institutes and workshops around the world. He has studied
conducting with Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Jorma Panula, and Gerhard
Samuel. In this capacity as an assistant, he collaborated with James Conlon,
Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Paavo Jarvi, Richard Hickox, Robert Spano, Tadaaki Otaka,
Jiri Belohlavek and Peter Oundjian.