News from 2005
Premieres of new choral commissions by Howard included a festive anthem Ecce Mater Tua for the Schola Cantorum of the Cathedral of St Johns’ Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands (November 6th 2006), Saved (based on Wendy Cope’s haunting poem about 9/11) for the Methodist College Belfast’s Chapel Choir, in St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast (October 27th).
Howard attended the premiere of a Christmas anthem, Out of the Dark Past, for the choir of King’s School Canterbury, in Canterbury Cathedral, on December 14th, directed by Howard Ionascu. The commission was dedicated to the memory of Lucy Holland, a student of the school, who died in the Boxing Day Tsunami.
He wrote a song for Aled Jones’ CD New Horizons, on Universal Classics.
Howard also had two tracks, Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd (theme from The Vicar of Dibley) and Ecce homo on The Choirboys‘ debut CD. His Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd (theme from The Vicar of Dibley) also featured on three other new CDs, Relaxing Classics from Classic FM, on In Dreams, from Sony/BMG’s new boy singing star Joseph McManners, as well as on Bryn Terfel’s smash hit CD of Popular Classics – the last of these won the Classical Brits award for CD of the Year. All the above CDs & tracks are available from Amazon or on iTunes.
Presenting News in 2005
He contributed to a BBC 2 documentary, The Best and Worst of God, presented by Vic Reeves, as an ‘expert’, and a BBC FOUR documentary about the hymn Jerusalem. The Guardian review of this programme (9th September 2005) read: “This was a lovely film, with lots of good people talking about Jerusalem. Best of all was the composer Howard Goodall, who explained why Jerusalem sounds so English. At the end, it builds to its big climax: “till we have built Jerusalem..” But after that, the tune contracts again, as if we’re slightly embarrassed about the patriotism in the previous line. And it comes back down again, almost apologetically: “In England’s green and pleasant land.” isn’t that great?…” (Sam Wollaston).
Howard was the featured guest on BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives on October 21st, choosing the black English composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor as his ‘great life’ choice.
On Saturday 26th November at LSO St Luke’s in London, Howard recorded his BBC Radio 2 Christmas Concert, broadcast on Christmas Day at 10pm. It featured the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by John Wilson and The London Adventist Chorale, directed by the effervescent Ken Burton. One of the world’s leading players, acclaimed Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, performed, as well as ‘the world’s first choir boyband’ The Choir Boys and the versatile, former member of The Swingle Sisters, soprano Joanna Forbes. Joanna sang two world premieres by Howard, The Angel Gabriel and Latin Lullaby. Latin Lullaby was also performed in its full choir version by the choir of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford at carol concerts inLondon and Oxford.
Education News in 2005
On Saturday 30th July 2005 Howard hosted an event connected with the BBC Proms on behalf of the Music Manifesto at the Royal Geographical Society. It included an address by Howard, a live performance by members of the National Youth Orchestra and the premiere of a short film Howard made for the Manifesto, Tell Tchaikovsky the news – young musicians embrace the future, commissioned by Marc Jaffrey, the Music Manifesto champion. In May he had been keynote speaker at the Music Manifesto Signatories’ conference. His speech at this event can be found here.
Musicals and Other News in 2005
Howard’s musical written with Nick Stimson, A Winter’s Tale, commissioned by The SAGE Gateshead, was performed in December 2005 by a cast and band of young people, to great acclaim.
Howard was immensely honoured to be a Cultural Ambassador for the successful London 2012 Olympic Bid.