Julian Wagstaff

Julian Wagstaff

Julian Wagstaff (born July 13, 1970 in Edinburgh , Scotland ) is a Scottish composer of classical music , musical theater and operas .

biography

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Wagstaff first studied German and political science and finally received his doctorate in 1993 from the University of Reading , Great Britain . Wagstaff worked as a translator and interpreter in German before turning professionally to music in the late 1990s.

The composer Wagstaff studied musical composition at the University of Edinburgh in 2001 under Professor Nigel Osborne , graduating in 2002 with a master's degree in music and finally doing his doctorate in 2008.

Wagstaff lives and works in his native Edinburgh. His works are performed in Great Britain and Europe as well as beyond.

plant

Wagstaff's interests in languages ​​and political history are reflected in his musical works and theater libretti . In 2001 he became known to the public with the musical John Paul Jones . The musical is about the life of the Scottish seafarer John Paul Jones as a hero of the American Revolution . The musical premiered in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2001 and was an instant hit with audiences. Wagstaff's predominant eclectic compositional style (which sometimes includes several quite different variations in the same work at the same time) began to develop. John Paul Jones was performed again in 2010 in collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra , but this time as an orchestral version.

Wagstaff's ostensible interest in German history can be found in the work Treptow , 2005, for string orchestra , Wagstaff's most frequently performed work up to then. This work was inspired by the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park , Berlin , and it was also awarded the Emre Araci Prize in 2005.

In August 2007 Julian Wagstaff presented his chamber opera The Turing Test on the occasion of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . The work takes its title from the so-called Turing test , which was proposed in 1950 by the English mathematician Alan Turing to determine "whether a machine has a thinking capacity that is equivalent to a human being". His piano quintet was recorded in the same year on the album Frontiers and Bridges with the Edinburgh Quartet , recorded by Calum Malcolm .

In 2011 Wagstaff was commissioned by the Royal Society of Chemistry to compose a new work on the occasion of the International Year of Chemistry . The trio for clarinet, cello and piano entitled A Persistent Illusion ( A stubborn illusion ) and was premiered on 12 December 2011 by the Hebrides Ensemble.

Current

In 2013 the composer was commissioned by the University of Edinburgh to compose and produce a short opera in order to honor the three hundredth anniversary of the “School of Chemistry”. The resulting work is titled Breathe Freely ( Free Breathing ), the action takes place during World War II . The work premiered on October 24, 2013 in the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, in collaboration with the Scottish Opera . The CD was released on Linn Records in October 2015 .

Works

• John Paul Jones (musical for nine voices, accompaniment and theater orchestra - 2001)
• Piano quintet (for string quartet and piano - 2002)
• Symphonic Overture from John Paul Jones (for symphony orchestra - 2004)
• Sonata for alto saxophone and piano (2004)
• Treptow (for string orchestra - 2005)
• Treptow (for string quartet - 2005)
• Symphony for chamber orchestra (2005)
• The Turing Test ( chamber opera for six voices and 12 instruments - 2007)
• A Persistent Illusion ( Eine stubborn Illusion ) (for clarinet, cello and piano - 2011)
• Breathe Freely ( Frei Atmen ) (Chamber opera for three voices and three instruments - 2013)

Web links

• Official Julian Wagstaff Homepage (in German)
• Homepage of the opera The Turing Test
• Homepage of the musical John Paul Jones
• Profile of the composer at the Scottish Music Center

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Scotsman, July 11, 2001
2. ^ The Scotsman S2, July 7, 2001
3. ^ The List, September 16, 2010 .
4. ^ The Stage (Festival Supplement), August 2007
5. ^ Rowena Smith: The Guardian . August 16, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2010. 
6. ^ The Daily Telegraph (Review of the Year), December 15, 2007
7. ^ The Scotsman, Nov. 9, 2007 .
8. ^ Edinburgh Evening News . December 8, 2011. Accessed January 8, 2012. 
9. ^ Jan Fairley: The Scotsman . December 15, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2012.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
10. ↑ Rosenna East: The Herald . December 15, 2011. Accessed January 8, 2012. 
11. ↑ Shan Ross: The Scotsman . September 24, 2013. Accessed January 3, 2014. 
12. ^ Carol Main: The List . October 21, 2013. Accessed January 3, 2014. 
13. ^ Stephanie Jewitt: The Journal . October 16, 2013. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 3, 2014.  
14. ^ Phillip Sommerich: Classical Music . September 28, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
15. ^ Philip Ball: Chemistry World . November 30, 2015. Accessed January 3, 2015.