David Ward

www.composers-uk.com/davidward

DAVID WARD'S music has been commissioned by, amongst others, the BBC, London Festival Orchestra, Edinburgh Quartet, Bingham String Quartet, Saltire Quartet, Shetland Arts Trust, Woodend Music Society, Ross Pople, Michael Beeston, Shinobu Miki, Nigel Boddice and Richard Stilgoe, with funds from the Arts Council of GB, the Scottish Arts Council, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the National Lottery as well as sponsors, subscribers and trust funds. DW has also received direct grants from the Arts Council of GB, the Scottish Arts Council and Enterprise North East, as well as from the Hope-Scott Trust and other trusts and foundations.

New Issues

Sybil or The Two Nations

An opera in two acts loosely based on aspects of the novel of the same name by Benjamin Disraeli, words and music by David Ward. The events depicted in the novel begin in 1837.

“My piece is loosely based on aspects (no more) of the convoluted novel, but ends up going its own way... The personal stories are set against conflict and misunderstanding between the very rich and the very poor in early Victorian England. This is a metaphor for all such conflicts between the haves and the have-nots, the powerful and the weak, today as well as in the past. The story that is told of a developing love across this divide has as much relevance now as ever in the past. Disraeli has Sybil’s family turn out to be disinherited aristocrats, but for the 21st century that can be left to Mills & Boon. In my opera, Sybil remains working-class in her family origins, albeit successful rather than impoverished working-class.   I have felt unable, or at least unwilling, to provide an unequivocal 'they lived happily ever after' ending for the lovers, given my own downwardly mobile family background (why do politicians speak of mobility as necessarily upwards?), my sardonic sense of humour and my mildly cynical view of life.” David Ward.

Click on image to download the full synopsis, as at 27th July 2010.

Evolutionary Metamorphoses

Evolutionary Metamorphoses was commissioned by the Institute of Evolutionary Studies to celebrate the Theory of Evolution and to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth in 1809 of Charles Darwin.

“The composition of Evolutionary Metamorphoses came about as a result of a conversation I was having with a group of people at the University of Glasgow. They were bemoaning the fact that there were so many pieces of music being written in praise of God (MacMillan, Tavener, Pärt, etc.); but it seemed there were none being written in praise of Evolution.” David Ward.

Click on image to download a file with more information.

In Memoriam Simon

In Memoriam Simon was commissioned by Heather Barrington-Ward and is dedicated to the memory of her son Simon Jocelyn Barrington-Ward, 14th November 1957 - 25th July 1985.

First performance by the Morley Quartet (members of the Scottish Opera Orchestra) at Higham Hall, Bassenthwaite, Cumbria on 7th June 1992.

Performance time: ca 8 minutes

Click here to download a pdf file of this piece.