Category Archives: Interviews

The beginning of the Bax Edition – Symphonic Variations and Spring Fire An Interview with George Owen

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was fortunate to attend Ashley Wass’s Naxos recording of Sir Arnold Bax’s Symphonic Variations with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Lighthouse Poole in 2008 and I recall the extraordinary efforts made by the musicians to read their parts from an indecipherable hand-written manuscript that had been partially damaged during a WWII London blitz attack.  Ashley Wass told me he’d love to program the Symphonic Variations for concert performances, but he said no orchestra would schedule the work due to the extra rehearsal time required for the musicians to read their parts.

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Timothy Dickinson interview

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British Bass-Baritone Timothy Dickinson is well known from his recitals across the UK to his operatic roles at Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Longborough and elsewhere. He has toured internationally with Silent Opera and has also been a regular guest at the St Endellion Festivals in Cornwall.

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Graham Parlett – (1946-2021)

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A personal tribute by Richard R. Adams.

When in 1996 I created the Sir Arnold Bax Website, I knew immediately the first couple of luminaries I wanted to interview.  Vernon (Tod) Handley was my initial preference, but the media-shy conductor turned out to be very evasive; so I pursued my second choice, who was at that time was the curator of Asian Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and who during his off hours was intensively involved in research on the life and music of Sir Arnold Bax.

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Interview with composer John Pickard

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John Pickard is among today’s most accomplished and performed 21st Century British composers. He was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England in 1963 and at an early age decided to become a composer. He studied music and composition at the University of Wales, with the Welsh composer William Mathias, and later in The Netherlands with Louis Andriessen and in 1989 was awarded a PhD in composition from the University of Wales. Since 1993 he has taught at the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Composition and Applied Musicology and was Head of Music for four years (2009–13). John Pickard is also conductor of the University of Bristol Symphony Orchestra and Choral Society.

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