Barry Wordsworth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948, Worcester Park, Surrey, England) is a British conductor.

He is currently music director of Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra. In October 2006 he became Conductor Laureate of the BBC Concert Orchestra, having been Principal Conductor since 1989. In 2007, he began his second tenure as Music Director of the Royal Ballet, who are based at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Wordsworth's discography includes works by lesser-known British composers alongside more mainstream pieces. He has also conducted the Last Night of the Proms.

[edit] Gant controversy

In February 2007 Wordsworth attracted controversy by cancelling at the last minute the scheduled Brighton Philharmonic premiere of A British Symphony by composer and organist Andrew Gant. The conductor announced to the audience at the beginning of the concert that

"I'm not here just to arrange the notes in the right order but have to have a belief in any piece we are performing. Unfortunately I have to say that at rehearsal on Friday I could not find that conviction and so decided it would be hypocritical to go ahead with it."^[1]^[2]

Several audience members, some of whom had travelled overnight specifically to hear the premiere, demanded refunds.^[3] One ticket holder attributed the incident to "professional incompetence on the part of the conductor. He had had the music since November and should have known what the music was going to sound like".^[3]

Gant's symphony had been commissioned by Rodney Atkinson with the aim of "celebrating the diversity and the unity of the UK through the use of folk song".^[1] Nearly two weeks after the cancellation, Gant complained that "I haven’t heard a single word from anybody at the orchestra to explain why it was done or offer an apology. I am genuinely baffled".^[2] Wordsworth himself, in a radio interview, said that after "sleeping on" the matter on the Friday night he and the orchestra decided to abort the performance on Saturday, the day before the concert.^[4] This decision was caused by Wordsworth's inability to identify an artistic "core" to the work, and his concern that performing the symphony would damage the orchestra's relationship with its patrons who were its sole source of income.^[4] Gant was informed of the cancellation at that time. Some concertgoers, including Atkinson, had not been able to be contacted in time to change their travel plans, and Wordsworth expressed "deep regret" to them.^[4] In a subsequent letter to the local newspaper, the general manager of the orchestra Ivan Rockey explained that the withdrawal of the work had been a "personal artistic decision" taken "in order to maintain the integrity of the orchestra’s artistic policy and the audience’s trust in it".^[5] In a radio interview Rockey asserted that neither the orchestra nor the conductor owed Gant or Atkinson any kind of apology^[4]