Alex Woolf (b. 1995) is an award-winning British composer, described by Gramophone as ‘a major presence in starry company’. His music has been performed by artists and ensembles including the BBC Philharmonic, Sir James Galway, London Symphony Orchestra, Colin Currie, and Sir Antonio Pappano & the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
Recent works include Fairfield Fanfare for London Mozart Players, M1 Symphony for the BBC Philharmonic, and the song cycle Quiet London for Rowan Pierce, Elgan Llyr Thomas and Iain Burnside. Alex’s NHS Symphony (2018) – a collaboration with BBC Radio Documentaries – won awards at the Radio Academy ARIAS and the Prix Europa, and was praised as ‘groundbreaking’ (The Times) and ‘haunting’ (Metro).
This season sees the premiere of Alex’s first full-length opera, Pandora’s Box, commissioned and produced by The Opera Story. In autumn 2020 Alex’s Requiem will be released commercially as a disc on the Delphian label, with soloists Nicky Spence, Philip Higham and Iain Burnside.
Alex’s choral music has received particular acclaim, with recent performances by The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge (Andrew Nethsingha), ORA Singers (Suzi Digby), The Bach Choir (David Hill), the combined choirs of Ely, Peterborough and Norwich Cathedrals (Ashley Grote), and The Tallis Scholars (Peter Phillips).
In 2019 Alex created the Sing for Shelter project, bringing singers of all ages and abilities together to raise money for homelessness charity Shelter. His song A Place To Call Home was recorded at the London Coliseum by Sir Bryn Terfel, Lesley Garrett, Alice Coote, the Chorus and Orchestra of English National Opera, and over 2000 amateur singers from across the UK; this song was released in December 2019 as a charity single, raising more than £10,000 for Shelter to date.
In 2018 Alex was recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, and in 2012 he was BBC Young Composer of the Year. Alex graduated with a double First from St John’s College, Cambridge University, subsequently completing his Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with David Sawer, Huw Watkins, and Oliver Knussen.
“One of the UK’s freshest new composing voices”
Alex Woolf (2019), © ORA Singers
Alex Woolf & Alice Coote (2019), © Wigmore Hall