Donemus Webwinkel — Ford, Ron

Ronald Ford was born September 29, 1959 in Kansas City, U.S.A. He moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1983.

Education: Ford studied composition, piano and computer engineering at the Duke University (North Carolina) from 1978 to 1983. During the Aspen Music Festival in 1982, Ford worked as an instructor for music theory. A year later, he began his composition and piano study at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, with, for composition, Ton de Leeuw, Robert Heppener and Louis Andriessen. In the years 1984 and 1985, Ron continued his studies with the Italian composer Franco Donatoni at the Chigiana Academy in Sienna. Ford was the ‘composition fellow’ at Tanglewood Festival 1994 in Massachusetts, where he also attended master classes with the Argentine-American composer Mario Davidovsky.

Career: Since 1983, Ron has worked as a freelance composer in the Netherlands. Since 1993 he also works as a freelance recording producer. As of January 2008, he works as secretary for composition at the Fonds Podiumkunsten (Performing Arts Fund), a position in which he coordinates subsidies for new compositions in the Netherlands.

Compositions: Ron Ford has written for widely varying ensembles such as the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Schönberg Ensemble, Percussion Group the Hague, Ives Ensemble, Calefax Rietkwintet, Dutch National Student Orchestra and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also on numerous occasions written music for theater and dance productions.
At the request of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, he wrote the piece ‘Londonsong’ in 1987 for the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the baritone Thomas Hampson and soprano Dawn Upshaw, for Hampson’s Carte Blanche concert serie.
In 1995 the Concertgebouw Orchestra commissioned his work ‘Chain’, and in 1996 he was commissioned by the Tanglewood Festival to write a violin concerto for their festival. In the summer of 1996 he was composer in residence at the festival.
In 2006 Ford wrote ‘De Reisgenoot’ for the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. This monodrama for narrator and chamber orchestra makes use of text by Hans Christian Andersen, reinterpreted by the actor Ergun Simsek.
Other works of Ford include: ‘Dog Run’ (2008) for big band, ‘Versus’ (2006) for violin solo and wind ensemble, ‘Hadyn Inserts’ (2004) for baroque orchestra, ‘Brandelli' (2004) for piano trio, ‘Gabriel’ (2002) for trumpet solo and orchestra, ‘Al Fatiha’ (2000) for wind ensemble, ‘The Disc’ (1997) for narrator and string quartet, and ‘Only the wind…’ for narrator and horn ensemble.

Awards: In 1991, Ron Ford received the encouragement prize from the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts for his work ‘Song and Dance’ for soprano and chamber orchestra.
In 1999 he was awarded the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize for his work ‘Salome Fast’ for large ensemble, speaking voice and live electronics, written for the ASKO Ensemble.

Ronald Ford werd op 29 september 1959 geboren in Kansas City, U.S.A., sinds 1983 woont hij in Amsterdam.

Opleiding
Hij studeerde compositie, piano en computerkunde aan de Duke University (North Carolina) en in Nederland compositie en piano aan het Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam en het Koninklijk Conservatorium te Den Haag. Zijn docenten waren: Ton de Leeuw, Robert Heppener en Louis Andriessen. Tevens volgde hij master classes bij Franco Donatoni in Sienna en bij Mario Davidovsky in Tanglewood.

Composities
Enkele werken zijn: Trarre (1986, slagwerkensemble), High Rise (1987, contrabas solo), Comment qu'a moy lonteinne soies (1987, 4 baritons, 2 saxofoons, 2 contrabassen en 2 trombones), Song and Dance (1990, sopraan en kamerorkest), Inferno (1993, sopraan en ensemble) en Chain (1995, voor de blazers van het Concertgebouworkest).

Prijzen
Voor het werk Song and Dance ontving hij in 1991 de aanmoedigingsprijs van het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst. In 1999 kreeg hij de Matthijs Vermeulenprijs voor Salome Fast.

Artikelen
In Key Notes (December 1995) verscheen een artikel over Ron Ford van de hand van Emile Wennekes.

Compact Discs
Trarre, Slagwerkgroep Den Haag - Steirischer Herbst (MP92 ORF 10
Wanne mine eyhnen misten (Globe 5066)
Between, Eleonore Pameyer (flute) (Attaca Babel 9478)
Box, muziekdoos / music box (VPRO Eigen Wijs 9413)
Lone (Composers' Voice KN 2)
Cross - Muziekpraktijk / Music + Practice (CV 63)
Rapide, The disk - Moto perpetuo (SIAE 1998)
Tema - Private collection (BV Haast CD 9908)
Inventions (Q disc 97061)
Rinuccini, Tone Wik (soprano) (2L 19)

2000