Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra - Conductor & Soloists

WARWICKSHIRE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

With more than 150 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company and an impressive list of credits with major European theatre companies, including the Comédie-Française, Paris, and the Burgtheater, Vienna, Guy Woolfenden’s theatre music is highly regarded throughout the world. During his thirty-seven years as Head of Music to the RSC, he collaborated with some of the world’s finest directors, designers and choreographers in many award-winning productions.

In collaboration with choreographer André Prokovsky, Guy has arranged the music for four full length ballets, which he has subsequently conducted in productions with The Australian Ballet, The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Hong Kong Ballet Company, Asami Maki Ballet, Tokyo, and Scottish Ballet. Guy conducted the acclaimed Russian première of his Anna Karenina with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

Guy's recent commission, Sounds and Sweet Airs - A Shakespeare Journey, for Saint James' Singers and Players, received its first performance at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on 21 October at the 2006 Stratford on Avon Festival. He is currently working on a new piece for wind orchestra which will receive its first performance at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Killarney in July 2007.

Guy’s compositions for wind orchestra are performed all over the world and much has been recorded on CD. He has received several commissions from the USA and conducts concerts and workshops of his music both there and in Europe. Guy is conductor of the Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra.

Guy is a Fellow of the Birmingham Schools of Music, an Honorary Member of the London College of Music and an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year's honours list, the award being made for services to music.

Richard Laing - Leader

Richard studied the violin with Peter Schaffer at the University of Illinois and with Richard Ireland at the Royal Northern College of Music before winning the sinfonia ViVA Conducting Scholarship to the Birmingham Conservatoire, where in one year he gained his Masters degree, a postgraduate diploma in conducting, and the Postgraduate Prize for the most outstanding contribution to the musical life of the college.

Richard has performed chamber music and concerti in North and South America and across the UK. In Illinois he was a founder member of the acclaimed Dmitri Quartet, studying intensively with Michael McClelland of the Cleveland Quartet. Additional chamber music studies have been with members of the Brodsky and Fitzwilliam Quartets. Richard has played solo on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and on tour, and plays with the Orchestra of the Swan. He is principal second violin of the virtuoso young ensemble Sinfonia Cymru, regularly touring with Bryn Terfel, and is a guest leader with Queen’s Park Sinfonia, Birmingham Sinfonia and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, recently leading their performances of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony.

Richard combines his violin playing with a great deal of conducting, having given concerts all around the UK and in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic. He is Associate Conductor of Sinfonia Cymru, Music Director of Operamus, the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, the Leicester Bach Choir and the Midlands Chorale, and Principal Conductor of the Midlamnd Sinfonia and the Leamington Chamber Orchestra. Further recent work has seen him conduct the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallam Sinfonia, Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra, Chandos Symphony Orchestra, and Queen’s Park Sinfonia at the Birmingham International Piano Academy. Operatic work has included performances with Kent Opera, Dartington Festival Opera and Birmingham Conservatoire Opera.

Richard has a wide range of academic interests: his undergraduate work in Manchester on John F. Kennedy’s policy in Vietnam won him the Kaiser Award for American History, and he has presented papers on subjects as diverse as Hollywood film, reality TV and Wagner at major international conferences in America and Australia.


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Conductor and Soloists
Guy Woolfenden - Conductor With more than 150 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company and an impressive list of credits with major European theatre companies, including the Comédie-Française, Paris, and the Burgtheater, Vienna, Guy Woolfenden’s theatre music is highly regarded throughout the world. During his thirty-seven years as Head of Music to the RSC, he collaborated with some of the world’s finest directors, designers and choreographers in many award-winning productions. In collaboration with choreographer André Prokovsky, Guy has arranged the music for four full length ballets, which he has subsequently conducted in productions with The Australian Ballet, The Royal Ballet of Flanders, Hong Kong Ballet Company, Asami Maki Ballet, Tokyo, and Scottish Ballet. Guy conducted the acclaimed Russian première of his Anna Karenina with the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Guy's recent commission, Sounds and Sweet Airs - A Shakespeare Journey, for Saint James' Singers and Players, received its first performance at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on 21 October at the 2006 Stratford on Avon Festival. He is currently working on a new piece for wind orchestra which will receive its first performance at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Killarney in July 2007. Guy’s compositions for wind orchestra are performed all over the world and much has been recorded on CD. He has received several commissions from the USA and conducts concerts and workshops of his music both there and in Europe. Guy is conductor of the Birmingham Conservatoire Wind Orchestra. Guy is a Fellow of the Birmingham Schools of Music, an Honorary Member of the London College of Music and an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year's honours list, the award being made for services to music.


Richard Laing - Leader Richard studied the violin with Peter Schaffer at the University of Illinois and with Richard Ireland at the Royal Northern College of Music before winning the sinfonia ViVA Conducting Scholarship to the Birmingham Conservatoire, where in one year he gained his Masters degree, a postgraduate diploma in conducting, and the Postgraduate Prize for the most outstanding contribution to the musical life of the college. Richard has performed chamber music and concerti in North and South America and across the UK. In Illinois he was a founder member of the acclaimed Dmitri Quartet, studying intensively with Michael McClelland of the Cleveland Quartet. Additional chamber music studies have been with members of the Brodsky and Fitzwilliam Quartets. Richard has played solo on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and on tour, and plays with the Orchestra of the Swan. He is principal second violin of the virtuoso young ensemble Sinfonia Cymru, regularly touring with Bryn Terfel, and is a guest leader with Queen’s Park Sinfonia, Birmingham Sinfonia and the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, recently leading their performances of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony. Richard combines his violin playing with a great deal of conducting, having given concerts all around the UK and in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria and the Czech Republic. He is Associate Conductor of Sinfonia Cymru, Music Director of Operamus, the Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra, the Leicester Bach Choir and the Midlands Chorale, and Principal Conductor of the Midlamnd Sinfonia and the Leamington Chamber Orchestra. Further recent work has seen him conduct the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallam Sinfonia, Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra, Chandos Symphony Orchestra, and Queen’s Park Sinfonia at the Birmingham International Piano Academy. Operatic work has included performances with Kent Opera, Dartington Festival Opera and Birmingham Conservatoire Opera. Richard has a wide range of academic interests: his undergraduate work in Manchester on John F. Kennedy’s policy in Vietnam won him the Kaiser Award for American History, and he has presented papers on subjects as diverse as Hollywood film, reality TV and Wagner at major international conferences in America and Australia.

Rimma Sushanskaya - Violin Rimma Sushanskaya studied with Mark Komissarov at the world-famous Conservatory in her native Leningrad and earned a PhD for her research into aspects of musicianship. In 1971 she began studies with Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatoire and went on to capture numerous awards, including first prize at the Prague International Competition and one of the rarest distinctions of all - the Ysaye Medal. Recital tours of Russia and Czechoslovakia and acclaimed appearances with the Moscow Philharmonic and the Czech Philharmonic followed. She emigrated to the USA in the late 1970s and performed throughout the USA, Canada and Venezuela. Moving to England in 1986, her London recital debut at Wigmore Hall in 1987 made such an impact that she was immediately invited to perform the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic under Libor Pesek and with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under John Lubbock. Recording offers rapidly followed, with CDs of sonatas and other works by Prokofiev, Schnittke and Shostakovich for the Pickwick and Chatsworth labels. More recently Rimma has begun a conducting career. She has recently performed and conducted at the Jerusalem Muisc Festival and two weeks after this performance she will conduct the Sutton Coldfield Orchestra. She runs a Virtuoso Violin Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon. Dr Sushanskaya was very recently awarded the Order of Catherine the Great of Russia by the National Committee of the Russian Federation of Social Awards for achievements in Music and the improvement of friendship and partnership between Russia and Great Britain. Rimma Sushanskaya, when not working, likes to keep young and fit through sports and particularly enjoys yoga, table tennis and snooker. She divides her time between her bases in New York, London and Stratford-upon-Avon in her role as performer, conductor and teacher. She is a Professor at the Birmingham Conservatoire

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