Paul Goodwin
Biography
Paul Goodwin is renowned for his historically informed interpretations of music of all periods, his wide repertoire, and his interest in contemporary music. He has a great passion for incorporating period style within the traditional orchestral world and creating unusual and dynamic programs. He is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival in California.
Paul has a wide symphonic repertoire, conducting orchestras including the BBC Philharmonic, the Hallé Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In the US he has conducted the Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In Europe he has worked with the Belgian and Spanish National Orchestras, the Rotterdam, Helsinki and Royal Stockholm Philharmonics and the Bayerischer, Hessischer, NDR (Hannover), and MDR (Leipzig) Rundfunkorchesters.
In opera, Paul’s recent successes have included Iphigenie en Tauride at the Komische Oper Berlin, Rape of Lucretia at the Teatro Real Madrid and Orlando at Scottish Opera, following its previous success at Opera Australia.
In the 2012/13 season, Paul has conducted the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, Philharmonisches Orchester Heidenheim, Tonkuenstler Orchester, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Philadelphia Orchestra, Limburgs Symfonie Orkest, Munchner Rundfunkorchester and Handel’s Jephtha with Welsh National Opera. Forthcoming engagements include the Orchestra di Padova, Malaysian Philharmonic and Capella Cracoviensis. He continues his close relationship with the Baselkammerorchester and will continue his position as Music Director and Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival, which takes place each July.
For 11 years Paul was the Associate Conductor of the Academy of Ancient Music with whom he toured extensively and made recordings of Schutz choral music, Mozart’s singspiel Zaide and two discs of music by John Tavener, commissioned for the AAM. Three of these CDs were nominated for Grammy (USA) and Gramophone (UK) awards. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra for 6 years, collaborating with artists such as Kiri Te Kanawa, Joshua Bell, Maria João Pires, Mstislav Rostropovich and Magdalena Kozena. He has recorded CDs of Strauss, Hartmann, Handel’s Riccardo Primo and Athalia, and a highly acclaimed CD of Elgar's Nursery Suite for Harmonia Mundi.
Paul’s dedication to educational projects has led him to work with National Youth Orchestras in Spain and Holland as well as the Royal Conservatoire in the Hague and the orchestras of the Royal College and Royal Academy of Music, London. For many years he has been a regular visiting conductor for the Queen Elisabeth Competition Brussels.
In 2007, Paul Goodwin was awarded the Handel Honorary Prize of the City of Halle (Saale) in recognition of his extraordinary services to performances of works by George Frederic Handel.
