Roger Woodward - Biography

Biography

Roger Woodward was born in 1942 in Chatswood, a suburb of Sydney, the youngest of four children to Gladys and Frank Woodward. He studied church music with Kenneth Long in Sydney, and, at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, conducting with Sir Eugene Goossens, piano with Alexander Sverjensky and composition with Raymond Hanson. He won the piano section of the 1964 ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition, beating David Helfgott in the final.

In 1965 he continued his studies in Poland with Zbigniew Drzewiecki. He made his debut with the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and later with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He rose to international prominence in a series of collaborations with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Jean Barraqué, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Toru Takemitsu, Franco Donatoni, Luciano Berio, Leo Brouwer, Iannis Xenakis, Arvo Pärt, James Dillon and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Sviatoslav Richter invited him to appear at many European festivals; he has performed at over 100 festivals around the world, including nine appearances at the London Proms.

In late 1974-early 1975 Woodward rallied colleagues, within a 14 day period, to present a benefit concert at the Sydney Opera House for people made homeless by Cyclone Tracy in Darwin.

He became strongly associated with the Solidarność movement in Poland.

He was the Music Patron of the inaugural Sydney International Piano Competition in 1977, and a member of the jury for the 1981 competition.

In 1983 he performed the complete works of Frédéric Chopin for the Sydney Festival.

In 1990 he founded the Sydney Spring International Festival of New Music and Visual Arts. He artistically directed the festival, held annually for twelve years, involving many world premiere performances. ABC Classic FM Radio recorded and broadcast all concerts. A number of these were released as CD recordings by Etcetera, Holland, winning international awards.

Since 1992 he has been founding director and professor of the School of Music and Dance at San Francisco State University.